Start the day with gentleness
A couple of weeks ago I came across an article on parent.co outlining the benefits of starting a day with gentleness, and I really wanted to talk about it on the poggie. Because while I am a big advocate for a little bit of slow in the morning, I know many other people - both parents and non-parents alike - find the advice frustrating. We already have so much to do in the mornings, so many pieces of the puzzle to fit together, that adding “start the day with gentleness” often feels a stretch too far.
What the article suggests, and what I’ve found to be true time and time again in our own home, is that if we think we don’t have time for a moment of slow in the morning, then we really don’t have time for a meltdown (adult or child-sized!). Taking even just a few minutes to greet our kids with a cuddle, asking how they slept, letting them wake at the pace they need, means they’re far more likely to start the day feeling secure and happy, and less likely to feel overwhelmed or overstimulated right off the bat.
Granted, there are days where this doesn’t happen and there are days that start with gentleness and still end up with some kind of shoe-related meltdown, but in the majority of cases the gentleness creates buffer in both our schedule and our emotions.
Ben and I also talk about the different things you can do for yourself in order to start the day a little slower, and why it so often leads us to be more efficient, more pleasant to be around and more positive in general. Ben also tells me that he’d prefer I didn’t actually talk to him in the morning, so that’s a nice thing to learn on a podcast...
We also finish with an encouragement to start every day for the next week with a moment of gentleness. Not because it will make the mornings magically easy, but because it’s a more preferable place to begin a day than from stress or rushing.
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