Throughout our book, The Miracle Morning for Parents and Families, we share 12 Parenting Profiles. These are all parents we personally admire and who have best practices to share to help you on your parenting journey. Mary Lynn Snow is the wife of the co-author of The Miracle Morning for Salespeople, Ryan Snow, and full-time working mom of 3 beautiful children. Here is her Parenting Profile from the book:
Ryan and Mary Lynn's youngest meditating.
On sharing the Miracle Morning with kids. Our older son is a great participant in the Miracle Morning. He has written his affirmations and is becoming proud and confident by saying them every day. If Ryan and I are reading, or meditating, he'll join in for those things, or exercise. That's one he really enjoys. It's funny, this past week he woke up, you wouldn't have known he just woke up, because he just jumped right in and started exercising in the middle of our routine. It was comical, actually!
Best Parenting Tips.
Don’t forget playfulness. I work full time so when I come home, I try to dedicate some time just for them, be it playing before bedtime or reading at night before they go to sleep. Just giving them that quality time, whatever that looks like is how we incorporate playfulness with them.
Use positive discipline. If our children have something unkind to say, or if they get in trouble, we have them do “I am” statements. We do one “I am” statement for every year of age. I think it's actually made a really positive change for them.
Spend one-on-one time with the kids. Generally, we'll dedicate date night. So I'll take one, and Ryan will stay with the other two to continue that one-on-one interaction with our kids, just so they know that they're special to us and they're getting that quality time.
Be purposeful. The Miracle Morning has made us more organized, calmer and more patient, so that helps us being purposeful with our parenting with our children. It has also helped us to always remember that they're learning and growing.
Maintain a good perspective. Kids are still learning, so being really harsh with them or giving lots of punishments is not the right way. We try and keep that in mind, that each of our children is unique and we need to treat them as such. Their learning styles are different from each other, so what works for one might not work for another.
Mary Lynn and I together at Hal's BYEB Event in 2016
Find good resources. One book that I read that I really enjoy and fits my oldest child to a T is, Raising Your Spirited Child by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka. My son is really energetic and he learns a little bit differently than other kids. The book will remind you that you're not the only one with a spirited child, so you're not the only one struggling. It will make you feel supported.
Create healthy partnerships. I think that's my most important partnership is with Ryan. A lot of it is impromptu. The kids will go to bed and we'll evaluate how the day went, and if there are things we could have done better, if there were opportunities for improvement during the day, and we’ll a plan going forward, which is always important. It's good to talk about it but then you need an action plan. So, we do a lot of that but we also nurture our relationship through date nights, and an occasional night away which has been great. Because without the two of us being on the same page the family unit can't function appropriately.
Talk about money. We talk about bank accounts with our 7-year-old and saving our money and being purposeful with how we're spending it, but we could be better at it, and we are seeking ways to improve that right now.
Parenting success story. When our older son learned to ride a bike that was probably one of our great accomplishments. He fell down countless times. But he was not going to give up. He persevered and he just kept trying. After 3-4 days he could finally ride that bike and he was so proud! It was amazing to watch him be resilient.
Parenting success story. Our son has a panic disorder. It was affecting his social life and his day-to-day skills of being able to go to school, so together Ryan and I put a plan in place to get him some counseling. The meditation and the affirmations have helped a lot too. It helps to ground him. He has a lot of energy, so putting the whole puzzle together with some traditional and some non-traditional care has helped settle him and he actually hasn't had a panic attack in over a year, I believe.
Hanging with other Miracle Morning co-authors (Ryan Snow, Mike McCarthy, myself, Natalie Janji and Brianna Greenspan) at the 1Life Fully Lived Conference.
Final word. I just want to say to any parent out there that you're not alone. I felt alone when I started going through some of these difficulties with my son when he was having panic attacks, then he went to school and they didn't think he would be able to read, and now he's excelling in reading. You're not alone. Reach out to your school or your community. There's always someone there to help you, to re-focus you, and to support you.
I'm grateful for Ryan and Mary Lynn. For their friendship, kindness, and support. I'm grateful for Mary Lynn's reminder to reach out for support and that we're not alone. I'm grateful for the community we're building in the Miracle Morning for Parents and Families Facebook Group. If you haven't joined us yet, we'd love to have you there :)
In Gratitude,
Lindsay