Sustainable Parenting | Raising Confident Kids with Positive Parenting Strategies

130. How to Be a Lazy Parent in the Best Way - 2 Keys to Less Stress & More Joy

• Flora McCormick, LCPC, Parenting Coach

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Feeling exhausted from doing everything — the school snacks, the bedtime routines, the constant reminders — and ready to just burn the whole thing down? 

What if being a "Lazy Parent" was the key to more joy and ease?!  

Spoiler alert - I think it is!!

In this week’s episode, I invite you into a surprisingly freeing mindset: Lazy Parenting.


 No, it’s not about neglect or indifference — it’s about choosing intentional calm over chaos (trying to keep up with Insta trends), and kind and firm parenting instead of over-functioning (doing everything for everyone).

And guess what?! This actually makes parenting feel easier and sustainable.  

When you are done listening, you will know:

  • Why doing less for your kids helps them become more responsible and resilient.
  • The simple mindset shifts that end daily power struggles without yelling.
  • How to reclaim your energy and connection using gentle discipline that actually works.

If you’re ready to parent with more ease — and finally see your kids listen without all the nagging — this episode will be your permission slip to relax, breathe, and raise confident kids the sustainable way.

✨Want more?

✨ Schedule a FREE 20 min clarity call with Sustainable Parenting, so we can answer any questions you may have. Together, we'll make a plan for your best next steps to have more calm & confidence in parenting - while having kids that listen!:)

✨ Download the FREE pdf. on getting kids to listen, for strategies that take you out of the "gentle mom - monster mom" cycle, with effective positive parenting strategies.

✨ Sign up for an upcoming LIVE ONLINE workshop with Flora, or purchase a past replay: https://sustainableparenting.com/workshop where you get 30 min. of learning and 30 min. of LIVE Q & A time, with replays sent afterwards.

✨ Buy a 3 session Coaching Bundle (saving you $100) - for THREE 30-min sessions 1:1 with ME, where we get right to the heart of your challenges, and give you small, powerful shifts that make a huge difference fast.

SPEAKER_00:

Do you ever feel like you're doing everything for everyone and still somehow feeling behind? You see a mom on Instagram who made an adorable pumpkin-shaped snack and you think maybe I could do that. Two hours later, you're snapping at your kids over something small and wondering, what is wrong with me? Friend, nothing is wrong with you. You are tired, you're giving way too much energy, possibly to the wrong things. And today I want to invite you to something radical. Lazy parenting. Now, before you imagine I'm telling you to ignore your kids, no, that's not what I'm saying. But I'm talking about intentionally lazy in a way that's gonna help your family be stronger and having more ease and joy together. By the end of this episode, you're gonna walk away with permission to stop overfunctioning. Two powerful reasons why being a lazy parent is actually the most loving thing you could do, and a few practical examples you can start with today. Friend, I'm Flora McCormick, licensed therapist, parenting coach, and early childhood mental health consultant with almost 20 years experience helping families like yours that are burnt out from being in a power struggle often with your kids, striving so hard to validate and break cycles that happened in your past, and meanwhile struggling to the point where you are not only fighting with the kids, but also fighting with your spouse. And friend, as you're listening, if this touches you, share it with a friend, like it with five stars and leave a comment, or also subscribe so that you don't miss anything in the future. Hello and welcome to the Sustainable Parenting Podcast. Let me tell you, friend, this place is different. We fill that gap between gentle parenting and harsh discipline that's really missing to parent with kindness and firmness at the same time. And give you the exact steps to be able to parent in ways that are more realistic and effective, and for that reason, finally feel sustainable. Welcome. Let's be honest. We live in this Instagram world right now where we are encouraged to overdo it. I mean, my goodness, just this morning I was on my feed and I see this like super cool display on the front porch of a house. Like, oh man, my kids would think that's so cool. And then I see another post about a cool snack that a family is making to be able to send with their preschooler. I'm like, oh gosh, that is also so cool. But somewhere along the way, we start believing that that is the definition of good parenting. Always busy, always doing these big over-the-top things. But friend, is that really what good parenting is? Let's step back for a second. I want you to ask yourself a question. What really matters? And please hear this. If you are someone who loves decorating and it brings you to a place of joy, maybe something you even do with your kids, go to the nines, do it all. I just like I'm rooting for you to enjoy this holiday season or whatever season you're in, decorate, make the cool snacks. But I talk to parents every single day in my parent coaching work that are not excited about this. This isn't what they want to do, but they somehow feel like they should and they need to. Those are key words. If you find yourself saying to a friend, oh, I should really dot, dot, dot, or I need to get that snack made for the thing. I need to get our front door decorated for Halloween. I want you to know those are indications from your gut sneaking in to give you wisdom, to tell you that is not actually authentic to what brings you joy. It's something you're feeling driven to do for external reasons. And when we are driven to do things for external reasons, we often end up then feeling burnt out, unfulfilled. And what do we do when we're burnt out and unfulfilled? We snap at our family, we get more frustrated, and nobody wins. Side note on this if it's not only decorating that is frustrating you and the obligations there, but that you're not having any me time to rejuvenate yourself and that's part of being burnt out, check out episode 125, where we talk about how me time and taking care of yourself is actually something that benefits your whole family. But back to today's agenda, here's the truth doing more does not equate loving more. Decorating, doing all the things we see on Instagram does not mean we are loving more. If it gets us to a place where we're drained, snappy, and barely holding it together by bedtime, I want to invite you to embrace being a lazy parent. Two key ways to be a lazy parent that's gonna benefit you and your kid. One, just say forget it to all the shoulds, the need to's. When you hear your voice saying that to other people or inside your own head, oh, I really need to pause, say, but do I want to? Do I choose to? Am I gonna choose that? And if your voice is like, no, I don't want to, then don't do it. And again, remember, I'm not saying that in regard to like, should I feed my child? Should I offer them love today? No, we're not encouraging neglect here in the Sustainable Parenting Podcast. We're encouraging boundaries and letting go of all the garbage in our culture that is always putting more pressure on us. So, first thing, you can let those shoulds go and say, I'm gonna choose to do this. And let me tell you, I am a mom that I have had parents say to me, Really, you would do that in a guilt sort of way that made me feel like crap around things like, oh, you buy a store-bought cake for your kids instead of making one? Yes, I do. Oh, you're not gonna go to jump time and do that big expensive party? No, I am not. Oh, you're gonna do only two presents from relatives for certain holidays? Yes, I am. You buy thrift store things for your kids instead of going all around town to buy the perfect, this, that, and whatever. Yes, I do. I encourage you to embrace choosing the things that fit for you that save your energy so you can give it to the right thing. Loving your kids, being there for them emotionally, being able to hold those hard boundaries. That all takes so much energy. Who cares about the freaking Frankenstein Rice Krispie treats? Okay. Item number two of how I want to invite you to be a lazy parent today, my friend, is to pause in those things that you're overfunctioning for your kids and see it as an invitation for them to build more independence. Are you getting up five times from the table at dinner to get what they need? Can they get up instead? Have you made a way that there's like a little shelf of their own silverware and cups in a space they can reach? Are you still wiping their butt at home, even though you know at preschool they're wiping it themselves? Let's shift and give them that opportunity to start doing it also at home. Where are you overfunctioning, doing things for your kids that they could be doing for themselves? Today's the opportunity to be that quote, low lazy parent. I want you to say, if you're like, but is it too lazy to not get up and get it when they asked me to get something? Sure, if you want to frame it that way, but I actually think it's empowering. Let's shift our language from thinking that's even lazy to I am empowering. I'm gonna take this as a moment to sit here and say, you are absolutely welcome to go get a different colored cup. If that's important to you, you help yourself. You're thirsty? Great. Can't wait to see what you choose to do to solve that. You're welcome to the water yourself. Okay? Today, friend, lazy parenting can be the most loving parenting and best way to help yourself be more aligned with your values, relaxed, authentic to your true self, and in a space where you're both empowering your kids and encouraging them to know we don't have to keep up with the Joneses quote whatever on Instagram to feel great about ourselves.