Embracing Slow Motherhood with a Toddler
Slow motherhood is a beautiful choice for busy moms who feel like life gets in the way of truly experiencing your motherhood journey. It's the simple choice, day in and out, to return to presence.
Slow motherhood means dropping the multi-tasking and the busyness, and leaning into one activity at a time, even amidst a full life with lots of activities. It means minding the transitions rather than jumping from thing to thing and tugging the family along with you on your epic to-do list.
You can read more about embracing slow motherhood amidst a busy life (especially if you're a working mom!) in my slow motherhood series. This series is an excellent starting point for your slow motherhood journey, and the tips and suggestions in it can be applied and reapplied to iterate on and improve your own slow motherhood journey.
Mindset shifts: Integrate these mindset switches to open yourself up to a slower pace of motherhood.
Practical action steps: These practical action suggestions will get you started in being a more present, and therefore slower paced mom. Plus, this article includes a free meditation from my free resource Two-minute Reset Meditations for Routine Calm Days!
Tips for your journey: As you resolve to slow down in motherhood, find support and reassurance in these simple tips and reminders.
But if you're still looking at your life, comparing it to your slow motherhood ideal, and pushing off that vision until your kids are older, this post is for you. Toddlerhood comes with its own challenges, but you can embrace slow motherhood with a toddler just as you can at any point along your motherhood journey.
Embracing Slow Motherhood with a Toddler
First, why bother with slow motherhood, especially when toddlerhood can already be so chaotic without the extra effort of shifting into a slower parenting style? Can you really slow down when your child can shift moods and interests faster than you can blink?
The purpose of slow mothering is to give yourself an opportunity to truly experience your motherhood journey. Not mothering while you're running around cleaning house and managing schedules. Not mothering through a series of boxes that need to be checked off your daily to-do list. Mothering fully present, as your best self.
A major benefit to slowing down in motherhood with a toddler is that it offers an example for your toddler about what life can be. Life isn't about how much you could get done each day, but rather how deeply you could experience it alongside the people you love. It tells them that your connection matters more than the to-do list and lays the foundation for a slower family life as they continue to grow. So how do you embrace slow motherhood with a toddler?
Slow mothering is not a parenting decision that magically makes tantrums go away, potty training easier, or emotions smaller. It's a choice that helps you ride the waves of toddlerhood as the regulated mom who prioritizes connection in every moment, the good and the tough.
Your key to slow motherhood with a toddler is to experience their world alongside them, at their pace. The toddler years are filled with learning, exploration, curiosity, and firsts. Your job as the mom prioritizing slower living is to lean into those experiences with them and to practice radical presence while you're there.
Practically, slow motherhood with a toddler looks like reading their favorite book again because even though you're tired of the story, you'll get to hear them laugh again at their favorite part. And that little laugh is like sunshine on a cool day. It's sitting at the dinner table for an hour, well beyond when you finished eating, because they like a leisurely pace and multiple courses. And the conversation, sensical or not, keeps you both entertained.
Slow motherhood with a toddler means including them every time they want to help. It's letting the socks be in the wrong drawer this laundry cycle because that's where your toddler thought they went. It means putting a towel down but accepting you'll still be wet after a dish-washing session because they couldn't resist playing with the faucet.
And slow motherhood with a toddler looks like sitting on the floor with them after they took a tumble while they're still deciding whether they're hurt. Or pausing your efforts to get out the door when their emotions get a little too big and they just need a hug. Or explaining a rule or boundary they don't understand again and again, while meeting the tantrum it causes with empathy.
When you prioritize slow living, you give yourself the gift of space in your days. That space is readily filled with the magical moments only life with a toddler can bring. And because you've opted out of rushing, chaos, and living inside the ever-present to-do list, you get to be there for the magic.
If you're drawn to the concept of slow motherhood but feel your life with a toddler is just a little too overwhelming to embrace it, I invite you to start with the series linked in the introduction of this article. And if you'd like to dive deeper, tap into the resources below to stretch and strengthen your presence muscle. In time, the overwhelming chaos will fade to manageable structure while the little magical moments litter your days with joy.
More Resources to Support You in Embracing Slow Motherhood with a Toddler
The online yoga studio for busy, working moms seeking a slower way of life offers monthly pre-recorded yoga and meditation you can use to sink into a slower pace, plus a slow down framework where you can restructure your most overwhelming challenges into peaceful, rhythmic routines that support you and your family.
Two-minute Reset Meditations for Routine Calm Days includes ten completely free two-minute meditations for you to capture a moment of calm right now, without spending an hour at the yoga studio or taking paid leave.
The Mama Naturalist on my website and Substack is a space where I share both conceptual and practical guidance on slowing down, connecting to nature, and living seasonally.
Mindful Moms Digest offers exclusive yoga and meditation classes, nature stories from a wildlife biologist (me!), and free, supportive resources including links back to every blog post for busy, working moms journeying toward a slower, more seasonal way of life.
Cultivate Calm Mornings is a structured series of three yoga workshops that supports you in transforming your morning routine from chaotic to calm.
