“You did it!” “Congratulations.” “You’ve come so far.” “What an achievement.”

Everyone wants to be successful. Society shouts their view of success. However, what truly does success look like for a parent?

If we had to name five top indicators of a successful parent, what would they be? Perhaps what first comes to mind centers on a child’s exterior performances, a child’s visible achievements, or how a parent’s child rates on the popularity scale. But is that really parental success?

By definition, success means achievement of intention. In that light, the question becomes what as parents do we plan or attempt to achieve?  The picture of success then changes.

If busy schedules overwhelm you, then having an actual sit-down dinner together three nights a week becomes a parental success. If one-on-one time with your children is always overshadowed by daily demands, then one planned outing every few weeks becomes a parental success.

So take a moment today, to define what successes you intend to achieve as parents. The culmination of little parental successes brings about achievements with lasting value for our children.

Time flies faster than anything. The demands of life are relentless. Schedules overflow. In the midst of it all, our children grow up quickly. Precious moments in time with our children threaten to loose their memory as the next thing barrels in.

Time snatchers. They come when you least expect them, sneak up on you, and threaten to steal your moments. Sometimes they win, other times they fail. How can we let them fail more often? Here are few helpful tips:

1. Overcommitted? Repeat after me, “No.” “No!” “NO!” Understand the world won’t fall apart if you say no to a good thing. It just allows another person an opportunity they didn’t have before.

2. Overloaded schedule? Does your day-planner resemble a Chicago O’Hare airport departure monitor? Hit the delete key and truly ask yourself what can be rescheduled? What isn’t that important? A hurried person is a stressed person. If you fall into that category, see #5 below.

3. Overwhelmed? Society’s pace brews this automatically. Take moments to just be. Remember to breathe. Listen to some calming music. If small children make this difficult, put them in bed a few minutes earlier so you have an opportunity to relax in the evening. They aren’t tired, you say? Give them a book to look at or read in their room. It teaches them the value of down time as well.

4. Worried? Let those buggers go. Let God take care of those things–you don’t have control over them anyway. Glenn Turner said, “Worrying is like a rocking chair, it gives you something to do, but it gets you nowhere.” John Lubbock refers to a day of worry as being “more exhausting than a day of work.” So, let it go.

5. Stressed? Are demands causing you to squeeze the stress ball until it burst? Relax. See #3 above. Give God your day before you start and let go of those things that cannot be accomplished. God may have ordained them to be done in a few weeks–not now. “A time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” (Sydney J. Harris)

Lily Tomlin gives this advice, “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.” Easier said than done, I know. Life does not give out free time. Instead, it steals our time like a vacuum. So, what can we do? Unplug the power cord! It is possible. Go for a walk with your kids. Play catch in the backyard. Go for a family bike ride. Who knows, you might even have some fun!

Kids all around are getting ready to go back to school. Whether next week or after Labor Day, the big day will soon be here.

It’s one of my daughter’s favorite times of the year — mainly because it means frequent visits to the mall and shopping are required. I’ve found as she’s gotten older, that it’s harder to find the “right” backpack. We look for things such as, will her instrument fit and will the zipper hold up the whole year. She on the other hand looks for things like will her friends be able to sign it and have their signatures show up, is it dorky or stylish, and does it have enough pockets.

Wouldn’t it be great if those “in charge” created a great big kiosk in the grocery store or mall parking lot to offer one-stop-shopping for all school needs. Sort of like the fireworks booths that spring up a few weeks before and offer heavy discounts the day after. All resources could be pooled into one massive kiosk. So when the composition notebooks are empty off the shelves, another box could be pulled out immediately to reload. Or when the school supply list calls for a compass and graph paper, they actually have shelves containing compasses and graph paper. Sounds like a great idea to me!

The back-to-school season often seems to be so stressful with all the shopping needs required which only fuels the financial burden stress. Then if that isn’t enough, school fees demand to be paid as well. Parents feel like a bank throwing money at everything they encounter, whether the balance is in the black or red.

So, to lighten the load, here’s some mindless humor I found in my day-calendar to brighten your day. Go ahead … it’s okay to laugh:

1. Hand a small child a pair of scissors and eventually they or a sibling will need a haircut.
2. “Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell, the name will carry.” Bill Cosby
3. “Hospitality is making your guests feel at home even though you wish they were.” Barbara Johnson
4. No debate class on earth can ever prepare a woman for a standoff with a 3-year old.
5. If you or I had been Lot’s wife, we’d never have risked looking back and turning into a pillar of salt. Imagine how you’d retain water!