Among the ups and downs of raising little humans, there are parents who just seem to conduct themselves with oodles of patience and grace. We scoured the internet to find some of the most wholesome parenting moments ever shared. Some of them might just melt your heart. Bored Panda also spoke to parenting expert Crystal Haitsma to get some tips on how to raise happy and healthy children. Haitsma says striving for parenting perfection will actually not make you a better parent. “Perfectionism and shame are two sides of the same coin. Not only is it unattainable, deep down it’s driven from the fear and insecurity of not feeling like I am doing enough, and not wanting others to find out,” she said during our chat, adding that there’s no such thing as a healthy amount of perfectionism. “Healthy means accepting my human-ness, mistakes, failures, messy, big emotions and all. The more we can do this, the happier we will be, and our kids will be too.” “The more that we dwell in our ‘not-enough-ness’, the more we’ll lose our cool at our kids, drop into fear or coercion tactics, or show up in ways that feel icky to us. Dropping the shame is the biggest key to healthy parenting.” “Expectations lead to frustration (for us), and it’s easy to get caught up on where we feel like they ‘should’ be developmentally and emotionally, instead of loving them where they are at,” she told Bored Panda. “If we can love the child we have, in the phase of life that they are in, we can better support them in emotional growth.” We asked Haitsma what “wholesome parenting” means to her. “Accepting my ‘whole’ self, and understanding and meeting my needs. Not only my physical needs, like getting a good night’s rest, and eating foods that help fuel me and my mind… but also emotional needs: connection, rest, support from others,” she replied. “Boundaries help keep us safe and secure, which are keys to a healthy relationship,” Haitsma told Bored Panda. But said parents should not go overboard with boundaries. “Don’t focus on little things of no importance, like elbows on the table, or getting homework done as soon as you get home from school.” “We don’t need to ‘over-boundary’ our kids’ lives and home environment,” she added. “Never use coercion, fear, force or shame… all good boundaries will feel like love. ‘Firm boundaries, loosely held’ is my motto.” A separate global survey found that most people sleep for around seven or more hours on a typical night. Then there’s work, commuting (for some), cooking and cleaning. We’ll let you do the math on what’s left for quality time with family. Nobody can survive without sleep. So we wouldn’t recommend cutting down in that area. But if you’re craving a closer connection with your kids, it might just be time to turn off the TV… “Being an involved parent takes time and is hard work, and it often means rethinking and rearranging your priorities. It frequently means sacrificing what you want to do for what your child needs to do. Be there mentally as well as physically,” said Steinberg in an interview with WebMD. “This not only leads to a healthy and happy life for us, but fosters emotional intelligence, safety and security in our kids. Gandhi said ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ My take is ‘Be the change you want to see in your home, your family and your kids’.” Follow Bored Panda on Google News! Follow us on Flipboard.com/@boredpanda! Please use high-res photos without watermarks Ooops! Your image is too large, maximum file size is 8 MB.