The Benefits of Lazy Parenting

If I’m totally honest, I’m a bit lazy. I always have lots going on in life and hate doing nothing. However, I prefer my life to be filled with things I can do from the comfort of my sofa. I write my blog posts on the sofa, I do my distance learning tutoring on the sofa, I market my nearly new sales from the sofa, I enjoy my favourite hobby, reading and eating chocolate, on the sofa. Even my voluntary work managing the local scout group website is done from the sofa. For all of these reasons, I am a natural at lazy parenting.

I suspect this physical laziness may have been one of the reasons I struggled so much with the demands of looking after babies and toddlers. Now that the kids are older, I have realised that my laziness does in fact have some benefits for my parenting. So here are my top five benefits that lazy parenting brings.

They will learn to do stuff for themselves

Now I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but kids aren’t very patient. When you ask your lazy mum to do something for you, open a packet, work out how to put some Lego together, wipe your bum, the response will often be “in a minute”. We say in a minute because we are secretly hoping that if we delay it, they might forget about it and leave us on the sofa. Do you know what, 8 times out of 10, it works! For a child, a minute feels like about 4 hours. Or so I gather from the way they jump up and down in my face when they have to queue for anything. This means that, if it’s something they can sort out for themselves, they will. 

Congratulations lazy parent, you’ve just helped your child learn something you new.

They will learn to deal with other adults

When we’re at home, my children drink nothing. When we are out and I’ve brought them a bottle of water each, they drink nothing. When we go out and I only have one bottle of water for them to share, they are suddenly dying of thirst. They like to engage in what we call “competitive drinking”. Not to be confused with downing shots on a Friday night, it’s where each of them tries to drink the whole bottle so the other one doesn’t get any. This behaviour, combined with my laziness, has meant that from around 5, they have been happy to go and buy a bottle of water themselves at places like soft plays and cafes. These days, Boy Child will even go to the bar in a pub and request a glass of tap water. 

Well done lazy parent, you just taught your child to interact with adults and manage money.

They will do chores

While this is still a work in progress, my laziness is slowing getting the children doing chores. Not because they give a toss how clean the house is. Because my laziness simply means I don’t want to do them all myself. Kids are generally quite enthusiastic about the idea of chores, and as luck would have it, my cleaning standards are pretty low. I really don’t mind when they do a slap dash job as long as I can say it’s been done. I’m currently transitioning the packed lunch making over to them, happy days. 

Good job lazy parent, you’ve taught your children a sense of responsibility.

They will play independently 

If you’ve read my blog for a while you’ll know that, while I love my kids, I hate playing. This means that the children have learnt to play without me, coming up with creative ways to entertain themselves. Interestingly, this ability disappears the minute Daddy is home. Daddy isn’t lazy. Daddy enjoys playing. This means that Daddy is expected to play from the minute he walks in to the minute they go to bed. Whether he likes it or not. Poor Daddy. 

Nice work lazy parent, you’ve helped your kids develop their creativity and independence.

They will help each other out

While it often feels like my children fight ALL THE TIME, they are actually capable of working as a team. Girl Child knows there is absolutely no point in asking Mummy what the Lego instructions mean. Frankly, mummy doesn’t understand them. However, her big brother will be keen to show off how much he knows. Boy Child knows that if he wants to make a film of himself opening his latest pack of Match Attax (Yes, he is a wanna be Vlogger) there is a far greater chance of his sister acting as the camera woman than his mum. 

Kudos lazy parent, your kids know how to work together.

So Embrace Lazy Parenting with Open Arms!

So now you know all of the great benefits your children will gain through your lazy parenting, get yourself a cup of tea, find a good book and put your feet up, safe in the knowledge that by doing so you are demonstrating the importance of reading to your children.

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