Last week our toaster died. This was more than a bit of a bummer since toast is one of the only foods both my older boys will consistently eat for breakfast. A few days after its unfortunate demise, I moved the toaster to the Goodwill pile. Almost immediately I noticed how spacious that corner of our kitchen countertops seemed without the toaster. I actually wanted to cook in that space, which frankly is a bit miraculous with everything else on my plate these days (3 tiny kids, full-time job, big life decisions looming, etc.)! Within a few minutes I had removed a few other things from our countertops – either getting rid of them completely or relocating things like our bottle drying racks to surfaces we don’t use for meal prep. It was a simple, little thing, but it had a huge impact on our day to day life. An aha moment if you will …

What I loved about this aha moment is that it inspired me to immediately seek out other easy, simple ways to improve my life. Shortly after I discovered the magical of toaster-free countertops, I was sitting in our living room racking my brain for a way to improve our furniture arrangement, which I haven’t liked since we moved in 2+ years ago despite replacing/ upgrading almost all of the various components. All of a sudden I realized the area rug was positioned the wrong way. I bribed my husband to help me flip the rug and a few minutes later our whole living room had been transformed. We quickly did the same to the rug under our kitchen table and the result was almost as transformative. Later that afternoon my husband walked into our house, took a look around, and commented on how much better our whole house looked. And it really does. All it took was a few minutes and an aha moment.

I know it seems silly, but I really believe in the power of aha moments. For all the reading and thinking and talking I do about parenting and life, sometimes it’s the little things that are the most transformative. Here are a few aha moments I’ve had while parenting lately – I hope they inspire you in some way:

~  When my kids are yelling, fighting, or simply having trouble listening and meeting expectations and I’m losing my ability to stay calm, WHISPER. Whispering focuses me to think about what I’m saying in response and how I’m saying it. It also forces me to move closer to my child to communicate my response, which forces connection (and the #1 way to get my kids back on track with their behavior is to connect).

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~ Kids aren’t trying to make you mad. They really aren’t, even when they are misbehaving. Realizing that one, simple fact has completely changed how I parent and how I feel about parenting.

~ Being a parent is way harder than being a nanny or a babysitter, for a variety of reasons. Mainly because the kids are MINE.

~ Creative, imaginative play is not neat and tidy. The moment I figured out the obvious – that the best way to avoid/ reduce screen time is to encourage creative, imaginative play and that creative, imaginative play is messy – well parenting became a whole heck of a lot more enjoyable.

Have you had any aha moments lately? Please share.