6 Parenting Trends for an Easy, Breezy Summer
07/01/2021 ● By Pam Moore

1 | Babywearing
The baby snuggles while you keep both hands free. Babywearing means not
having to strategize your approach at every doorway or MacGyvering through
stairwells with 40 pounds of stroller, baby, and diaper bag slung across your
body at awkward angles. Babywearing eliminates those face-prickling,
nervous-sweat moments when you're futzing to unlatch your stroller as your baby
wails and the one thing just won't attach to the other thing and all eyes are
on you in an otherwise quiet, public place. If I regret anything in my
life, it's that I didn't wear my kids more when they were
babies. (Exception: the Moby wrap. Wrestling 25 yards worth of cotton
with a crying baby on your hip can make anyone weep, particularly a postpartum
woman).
2 | Co-sleeping
Co-sleeping could be the best-kept secret of lazy parents. Contrary to
popular belief, co-sleeping doesn't make you an attachment parent, a helicopter
parent, or a hippie. It means you are probably sleeping better than
everyone else. It means you're capable of snoring when the kid snuggles up
with his center of mass directly over your Adam's apple. It means you're a
gentle soul who finds the sound of your kid breathing like an overweight
octogenarian adorable, even without an Ambien or two.

Co-sleeping means never leaving your bed in the middle of the night. I
regret not co-sleeping with my kids when they were babies. I also regret
that they thought co-sleeping was a slumber party. Specifically, the kind of
slumber party where the first girl to fall asleep would wake to find her
underpants hidden in the freezer.
3 | Baby-led weaning
Baby-led weaning is fancy way of saying you feed your baby regular
food. Instead of spoon-feeding your baby purees that you have to make or
buy, you give them soft foods they can eat with their hands. Why did I
spend so much time pureeing various combinations of fruits and vegetables, then
struggle to simultaneously feed myself, read the paper, and spoon-feed them for
hundreds, maybe thousands of meals? I beg forgiveness from the patron
saint of judge-y mommies. My sins include (but are not limited to) ignorance
and hypocrisy. I scoffed at baby-led weaning. I am ashamed to admit
that this cloth-diapering, home-birthing, chicken-raising mama thought it was
“too crunchy." I wish I'd considered how much easier (read: lazier)
it would have been to set a few mashed pieces of my chicken and sweet potatoes
on my babies' high chair trays and let them have at it.
4 | Waldorf principles
Waldorf schools are notorious for banning screens. While letting the TV
babysit your kids is the epitome of lazy parenting, there is, in fact, a place
for the Waldorf philosophy in the lazy parent's home. Waldorf emphasizes
connecting with nature and creative play. Sending your kids to the
backyard and shutting the door behind them is a great way for them to discover
the natural world. Meanwhile, the glut of plastic toys hampers kids'
imaginations. Letting kiddos create a rich imaginary world means fewer
toys to trip on and less time spent inventing ways to make clean up fun (or
sighing loudly while shoving toys in bins after bedtime).
5 | Minimalism
While minimalism is trending right now, less is truly more. Fewer toys
mean less time spent sorting and tidying toys. A smaller wardrobe means
less laundry. A smaller house means less cleaning. Principles of
minimalism apply not just to your material things but to your emotional and
spiritual life as well.
In a culture that values staying busy, minimalism asks us not just to weed out
material clutter but the obligations that clutter our calendars as
well. Don't feel like meeting up for a drink with that preschool mom you'd
never be friends with if you didn't have kids the same
age? Don't. You're not a terrible human. You're just a
minimalist, protecting your greatest asset – your time. (She doesn't need
to know your prior commitment was binge watching Game of Thrones.)
6 | Rompers
The romper should be the staple of every lazy mom's summer wardrobe. Yoga
pants may be comfy and match everything but they're not a great summer piece
(unless you're attempting a budget version of one of those
perspire-excessively-in-a-compression-garment weight loss
strategies). Send your yoga pants to Goodwill along with the teeny-tiny
Legos and find yourself a romper. The romper is superior to yoga pants in
every way. It doesn't just match everything – it is everything. Once
it's on, all you need are shoes and you're dressed. Romp-and-go style is
yours with zero fuss (until you need to use the restroom.)
As parents, we are busy. We don't have time to check out all the trending
hashtags on Instagram. Don't worry about hashtags. Do whatever is easiest
and you're sure to be in vogue this summer.
Originally published on Motherly. Pam Moore is an author, body-positive health coach, occupational therapist, and certified personal trainer who helps women push through fear to become their best selves. To get her free guide to crushing Impostor Syndrome visit pam-moore.com