5 Ways I Want to Help Parents of Wild Toddlers

Let’s face it. Being a parent in today’s world is honestly… exhausting. While we all love our adorable, crusty-faced gremlins, our modern world has not made it easy to bring them up… Parents today are faced with constant parenting paradoxes:

Let your baby cry it out, but if you don’t pick them up, they will probably feel neglected. Make sure you spend one on one time with your child, but not too much, they need to know how to play independently. Feed your child a variety of food, including fruit, but avoid sugar if possible. Screens are okay for children over two years old, but also, any amount of screen time will impair their ability to read at an early age.

And then add to all of that a wild, energetic, non-stop, independent, determined toddler? It’s enough to break anyone. Luckily, you’re not alone.

I have a wild toddler, too.

Gasp. There are more out there in the world? Yes! And I will gladly admit that I love him more than anything I’ve ever known, but I’m also more exhausted than I’ve been before. Parenting a wild one is not for the faint of heart. Which is why I want to help other parents with wild toddlers. Here are 5 things I hope to do:

1. Create easy to follow activities for wild toddlers.

But why? There are so many activities out there for toddlers already? You’re right. There are! But in my experience, only certain activities have worked for my wild toddler. If we’re home, and he doesn’t have something to do, he’s either breaking something in our house, breaking someone in our house, melting down, or whining non-stop to watch a show. He needs something to do, somewhere to channel his energy–hands-on activities with movement and highly engaging stuff. Help instill confidence in parents of wild toddlers.Help them get creative and practice creativity.

2. Help wild toddlers learn through play.

For many wild toddlers who have non-stop energy and just. can’t. sit. still., it’s hard for them to learn through traditional academic methods. I like to focus on learning through play. Generally, almost everyone learns better through play, wild toddler or not. With my own wild one, I create activities based on mini learning goals I have in mind, while also including and appreciating play just for play’s sake.

3. Recommend excellent resources for parents

Parenting a wild one often requires lots of outside help. Sometime that’s in the form of books, tools, games, or activities. As I find things that work for my wild one, I will share it here so others can benefit from my trial and error.

4. Send out a monthly newsletter with activities.

I get it–who has the time out there to consistently sit and research activities for your toddler? If you’re raising a wild one, you know that your time is precious. By providing a monthly newsletter with easy to set-up, quick activities, parents will feel empowered to try activities, hopefully avoiding the “planning fatigue” that comes with trying to create new, fun things for their kids.

5. Create digital/downloadable resources for parents of wild toddlers.

I don’t use digital/downloadable resources frequently, but they are worth their weight in gold in certain situations. I pull out one of these activities whenever I don’t have time to set something up, or whenever we don’t have the space/materials to do it. These are great for traveling, doctors visits, church, etc. My wild toddler can’t sit still and color quietly, so these help him occupy time and channel his energy.

And that’s it!

Those are the 5 ways I hope to help parents of wild toddlers. Because let’s face it, raising a wild toddler is, well, wild. And we parents need all the help we can get.