Raising Parents Inc

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  Parenting with Purpose: A Quick Exercise to Realign Your Goals and Focus on What Truly Matters

  21-Mar-2025

  Parenting is a journey filled with love, laughter, challenges, and constant learning. In all the activity of daily life, it's easy to get caught up in routines, expectations, and pressures and gloss over or set aside what really matters to you.

  Have you ever paused to ask yourself: What truly matters to me as a parent?

  If you've been feeling overwhelmed or disconnected from your parenting goals (or don't want to get there!) taking a few minutes to realign your focus can make a world of difference. This simple yet powerful exercise will help you clarify your values, set meaningful intentions, and parent with greater purpose this year.

  Step 1: Define Your Core Parenting Values

  Your values are the foundation of your parenting. They guide your decisions, shape your home's culture, and influence how you respond to challenges from major issues to difficult moments.

  Take a moment to reflect on these questions:

  • What qualities do I want to retain and celebrate in my child(ren)?
  • What kind of relationship do I want to have with them?
  • When my child is grown, what do I hope they remember most about growing up with me?

  Write down three to five values that resonate most with you. Some examples include kindness, cooperation, empathy, curiosity, autonomy, or joy. Click here to see a list of values.

  Step 2: Identify What’s Getting in the Way

  Life is filled with alluring distractions—busyness, stress, societal expectations, media, others' expectations and ideas, and even our own self-doubt can pull us away from our best of intentions. Ask yourself:

  • What obstacles prevented me from being the parent I wanted to be last week?
  • Am I routinely making choices in my life that don’t align with my values?
  • What internal and external pressures do I need to think more about, and maybe let go of?

  An important step to clarity is to know exactly where you are right now.

  Step 3: Set One Clear Intention

  Rather than overwhelming yourself with drastic changes, choose one small, meaningful shift that aligns with your values. For example:

  • If you value presence, commit to putting your phone away for 30 minutes of watching your child's eyes for 10 minutes, two or three times a day.
  • If you value kindness, start a family gratitude practice over dinner, or at bedtime, where everyone shares something kind they did, received, or saw during the day.
  • If you value connection, schedule a weekly check-in with your kids, where you ask them what they need more of, what they miss or desire from you, or what one thing would they like you to change to feel more connected to you.

  Step 4: Create a Simple Reminder

  It’s easy to slip back into old habits, so find a way to keep your intention visible. You might:

  • Write your family values on a sticky note and place it where you’ll see it daily, or have an art day where you and your kids make posters for your room illustrating your values or family motto.
  • Set a reminder on your phone with an encouraging message (my Alexa tells me every morning 'this is the sign you've been looking for.')
  • Choose a word or phrase (like “presence," "lean in," or “love”) to repeat when you feel distracted.

  Step 5: Reflect and Adjust 

  Parenting is a dynamic process, and what works today may need to evolve over time. Check in with yourself regularly. Ask:

  • Am I living in alignment with my values? (And maybe ask "Are these actually MY own values?" too!)
  • What’s working well? What needs adjustment?
  • How can I show myself grace in this process?

  There’s no such thing as perfect parenting, only responsive parenting.

  By taking the time to realign with what truly matters, you’ll create a more meaningful and fulfilling parenting experience for both you and your child(ren.)

  This season, try to focus on parenting with purpose—one small, intentional step at a time.

  Tags: purposeful parenting, why parenting, connected parenting, value alignment, parent value, parenting values, family values, Linda Clement, thrive parenting, good enough parent, responsive parenting, better parenting

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