6 Ways Moms Can Create Calm in a Crazy World
Parenting
Audio By Carbonatix
8:36 AM on Thursday, April 2
By Peyton Garland, Parenting
1. Recognize the Significance of Childhood Imitation
You don’t realize just how watched, how mimicked, you are until you hear your toddler repeat something unwholesome that fell from your mouth. Just a few weeks ago, I made the mistake of huffing, “Oh, crap!” in front of my two-year-old son. The next two words out of his mouth? Yeah, you guessed it: “Oh, crap!”
Children truly are sponges. They soak up everything because everything is new. It’s constant exposure to surprises, so their little brains are trying to define, calculate, and sift through everything. Thus, their senses are scarily sensitive.
Recognizing this can act as a barrier when the craziness threatens your peace. When anxiety and fear want to win, remind yourself of the little ones watching how you confront life’s chaos. Grant God the space to tether your heart to His peace and security, and show your children what it means to navigate life’s craziness with prayer and steadfastness to the faith.
This will teach your kids something far more powerful and sustaining than nail-biting meltdowns. It will offer them Christ’s banner of bravery, and you will pass down a soul-winning legacy.
“And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed, and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NLT)
2. Place Safeguards/Limits on the Internet
Perhaps I’m wrong, but I don’t think we were meant to carry the emotional heaviness of the world—I don’t think we were meant to know when every catastrophe strikes. But the internet doesn’t care about our capacity; it only cares about our clicks. Thus, we carry knowledge of global destruction in our back pocket.
If you want your home safeguarded from chaos, keep it at bay where you can. The internet and news are great places to start. I encourage you to set limits on your phone, monitoring your access to information overload. Meanwhile, don’t let the news serve as background noise in your home. Just turn that stuff off, mama!
I’m not suggesting that you live like an ostrich and stick your head in the sand, but I am saying that being a human being means recognizing the difference between staying informed as an educated, responsible citizen and being an obsessive doomsday scroller.
Set locks and limits on the clickbait information you consume, and ensure your children do the same.
“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.” Psalm 101:3 (ESV)
3. Create Structure
Structure creates expectations, and when you expect something, it minimizes anxiety. I discovered this when my oldest son started falling asleep more quickly the more strictly I kept to a nighttime routine.
From dimming overhead lights in his room to brushing teeth and saying his prayers, he learned when to mentally and physically wind down. His body knows when to expect a time of rest, so he more easily leans into what he’s supposed to do.
Our modern culture is slowly starving us, feeding us bits of edge-of-your-seat mini series, news reels, and late-night Amazon sales that make our hearts and minds so distracted, so addicted, that we lose all sense of rhythm, vying for quick entertainment and distractions instead.
As humans, our minds and bodies are literally hungry for routine. We have internal sleep cycles, fertility windows, and cell repairs that rely on our willingness to submit to structured eating, sleeping, and exercise.
Set the example in your household by creating structure that isn’t easily intercepted by the world’s noise and false sense of entertainment. Set their physical bodies up for success so they are more mentally and emotionally able to maintain healthy habits and relationships.
“Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” Proverbs 29:18 (ESV)
4. Allow the Family to Pivot
Stick to your schedule, but only as it aids your family. Certain situations will require that you pivot, and when that change happens, it’s important to maintain composure.
Sure, last-minute things, especially emergencies, can be stressful. No doubt, your body will sometimes respond with a sense of fight-or-flight. However, when your household recognizes your ability to react to uncertainty with prayer and emotional composure, they are better able to remain calm in a world where undeniably crazy things will try to steal the peace and spiritual footing.
Be their spiritual barrier against the control that chaos wants over your household. Learn to anticipate the crazy, and do so by always being read to pivot with the help of God’s faithful promises.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23 (NIV)
5. Grant Space for Safe Conversation
Let your children have those awkward, scary conversations with you. Let them come to you with questions about doubting theology, being curious about sex and their bodies, and feeling like they are having their own identity crisis.
When you listen without judgment and offer encouragement and sound advice, they recognize that you are a safe place to spill their inner chaos. The beauty in this is that you become a spiritual beacon. You can point them to God’s truth as they navigate the chaos in their own hearts and minds. And trust me, you would much rather them come to you with these questions than their 13-year-old friends. Or worse, the internet.
Don’t bend the truth or stoop to their maturity level to play friends. Don’t say what they want to hear. Just kindly listen and respond with God’s truth, free of anger and judgment, and you will be their confidant. What a blessing as a mama!
“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry.” James 1:19 (NLT)
6. Pray Together
It sounds scary—and in some ways, it rightfully is—but you are your children’s first definition of God. How they see, understand, and respond to Him is first influenced by you.
Whew! No pressure, right?!
Thankfully, Jesus is available to take away that pressure, offering grace and mercy as you imperfectly raise imperfect kids in an imperfect, crazy world.
Pray with your children because they need to know that you mess up, that you get confused, and that you, too, feel frustrated or scared or angry. More than simple, repetitive bedtime prayers, let your babies hear the open, raw conversations you have with God.
This way, God becomes their go-to in all things. And what a legacy to extend to your babies, especially in a world filled with uncertainty.
“Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NLT)
Clinging to the Father
Until Christ returns to make all things new, this world will always be riddled with uncertainty and chaos. Thinking you can shield your children from this knowledge, or even experience, is a worthless feat, mama. One way or another, they will face the craziness of living in a fallen world filled with fallen people.
However, you have been granted the calling and opportunity to show them how to navigate the hardships and uncertainty they will meet. Let them know when you are afraid or when you mess up on this journey. Better still, when you don’t have the answers or are stumbling through the chaos too, let them see you lean into the grace, mercy, forgiveness, and guidance of the Father.
As hard as it is to hear, mama, they need more than your imperfect love. They need their eternal Father. Show them the way, point them to hope, and be the reason they call one day and say, “Thank you for raising me in the truth of Jesus.”
“He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will carry the lambs in his arms, holding them close to his heart. He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young.” Isaiah 40:11 (NLT)
Related:
How Can Moms Create a Calm, Less Stressful Home?
4 Amazing Scriptures to Help Moms Find Inner Peace
