How to parent your spirited child....without losing their spirit + yours....

Let me first start with the important fact that I'm not an expert in parenting or life in general. But I am a parent of 2 kids who were born to stand out, push the boundaries and change the world. The thing is - I didn't know to accept + love that until it was nearly too late....

Meet Mooch + Wombat. The residents of the household who love with all of their hearts and fully commit to living life to their utmost ability. They are A+ boundary pushers, fantastic singers, incredible artists, passionate cuddlers and love with every bit of their hearts. They are loud, wild, crazy + wonderful. They are as spirited as they come....and I won't lie....parenting these 2 bundles of pure life has been a rocky journey of self discovery for both my husband + I. But these 2 kids - who we affectionately call "The Mooch + The Wombat" - well these kids changed our lives for the better and we didn't realise it until it was nearly too late..... Lets go back nearly 10 years, back to where I would attend Mothers Group with my new little bundle of pure perfection named Mooch. I would lie her down on the mat with all the other little babes - and watch on in horror as she proceeded to rain mayhem on the unsuspecting souls. It was all slow-motion as she would successfully empty out 2 nappy bags, 4 lunchboxes, hold a dummy ransom in her own mouth and make at least 1 baby cry. As I think back on it now - I laugh out loud as I remember her crawling over bodies like they were merely speed bumps in her way and trying to encourage these little babies to join in on the fun while being totally confused that they weren't keen to join the party! The stories like these only got more colourful, hilarious + I'm going to say traumatic too (lets be honest here) as the tribe grew bigger when the Wombat joined the shenanigans. We learned to never ever trust any kind of silence from our kids, that birthday parties are disguised as punishment for parents and that this bizzo of raising kids who weren't going to be in juvie by the time they are 14 was haaaaard.....

Does it sound familiar? Welcome to the club. It's so good to see you!

I actually wonder some days if my husbo + I have PTSD from some hairy moments of raising spirit kids but then as we look back and tell the kids about their shenanigans.....we laugh and laugh about the days that we thought were never going to end. We don't tell them about the tears we would shed at the end of day, or the countless hours we would spend researching and wondering how to parent these little people. We have stories that need to be written out in a book, printed + sent to every single parent to remind them that the days are long but the years are short and then remind them again that the days are loooooooooooooooooooong. We would also put in that book as a disclaimer "NEVER make friends with an adult who has a PERFECT child". Why? Because a perfect child is about as mystical as a unicorn that farts lollies and you don't need that kind of negativity in your life. Parenting spirited kids is exhausting and tough. Being the parent who is always running....and when I mean always - I mean ALWAYS running after these tiny humans can send you right to the brink of insanity. All those well-meant comments that actually hurt your heart and the constant pressure from general society to mould these wild spirits to conform and fit into the round hole when infact they are a square. All of these things - one by one - start to make you question how to parent these incredible humans without turning them into something else completely.

"All those well-meant comments that actually hurt your mama-heart and the constant pressure from general society to mould these wild spirits to conform and fit into the round hole when infact they are a square."

We felt a lot of pressure to conform these wild + wonderful kids of ours. We researched, studied, disciplined, punished, timed-out, blah blah blah - we did it all to try and get these kids to act like the monkeys they were supposed to be instead of always being the ones who stood out in the crowd. We were exhausted. Actually, we were beyond exhausted but then one day a very wise soul said to us.... "Your kids will make incredible adults who will be brave enough to fight for what is right....you just need to parent them to nuture that spirit and get them there" ....and that was the day when we threw the parenting books out + decided to celebrate, nurture, encourage and support these incredibly "Spirited" children of ours while also maintaining our own sanity. We stopped trying to snuff out their spark that was simply too bright for some to handle and instead we started to encourage it. We started to parent them to play to their strengths while also knowing the difference between right + wrong and I hate to burst your bubble here but they will mess up and you will get frustrated. So while the days are long and the pressure to conform can be suffocating - always remind yourself that these little humans are going to be the game-changers. They will be the ones who will change the world + will be brave enough to push the boundaries on topics that they feel passionately about. They will be kind, they will know true happiness and they will love with all of their heart because that is what they are here to do.....and you were the parent who let them do it.