Shift your mentality from “I have to…” into “I get to…” in your parenting duties. It’ll help you in many ways and help as a model to your kids.
Sport Psych Parenting talks about the attitude of I get to rather than I have to. A have to mindset can make responsibilities feel like burdens. A get to mindset reframes experiences as privileges and opportunities. It turns those daily monotonous tasks into meaningful experiences.
Welcome to another edition of Sport Psych Parenting. Today I'm going to talk about the attitude of I get to rather than I have to. There's a lot that goes into parenting. So I'm curious for you, if you are a parent, how do you frame your daily responsibilities as a parent? Are you, like many people, even if they're a parent or not, who say they have to do things? For example, I have to take my kids to school, or me and the wife have to make dinner every night for the family? A simple and easy way to help you out tremendously is to shift that have to mindset into a get to mindset.
Turn those have to's into I get tos and I want tos. A have to mindset can make responsibilities feel like burdens, and that can easily lead to frustration over time. Whereas a get to mindset reframes experiences as privileges and opportunities, helping you as a parent, appreciate the opportunity to support your child's journey. A get to mentality helps you as a parent, embrace the journey, not just endure it. It turns those daily monotonous tasks into meaningful experiences. And that's something that benefits you, but also your children.
And this is something that I tell athletes all the time, especially younger ones. If I'm at a team's practice and I hear anybody say anything remotely similar to, oh, we have to go to practice today, I'll be very quick to remind them, you get to come to practice. Your body is healthy, you only get so many years to play your sport, you're around your friends, et cetera, et cetera. And overall, teams that want to play perform much better and have much more enjoyment than those teams that are just showing up and going through the motions.
And that's the same for you as a parent. This subtle shift does so many things. It fosters gratitude instead of resentment, enhances your connection with your children, reduces stress and burnout, and what I would think most importantly, it models a positive mindset for your children. The next time you catch yourself saying, I have to do something, turn that into I get to.
