Image: Flickr/Josh Liba

“The central struggle of parenthood is to let our hopes for our children outweigh our fears.” (Ellen Goodman)

There is no such thing as anxiety-free parenting. You’ll stop worrying about your kids when you’re dead. That’s normal. But when we allow our anxiety and the fears that naturally come with parenting to be the driving forces behind our behavior, we inevitably end up creating the very outcomes we were hoping to avoid.

If we’re honest, we’d have to admit that our fears are often more about us than they are about our child anyway. So, rather than spending so much time worrying about what might happen to them or what they could be doing wrong, spend some time thinking about what good things are happening to your child and what things they are doing well. I know it’s hard to do, but if we can learn to control our overactive, worst-possible-case-scenario imaginations long enough to enjoy the present moment, we’ll actually increase our chances of a bright, hope-filled future for our kids.