Parenting in a Hurry-Up World: The Power of the Pause
- Janice Taylor
- Jun 10
- 3 min read
We live in a world that demands now.
Fast answers. Instant results. Two-day shipping (correction: One-Day sounds better). Same-day grocery delivery. Quick-fix parenting hacks on TikTok. We’ve been conditioned to expect things immediately—to react, fix, scroll, move on. Slowness is seen as weakness. Pausing feels like failure.
And yet… parenting doesn’t work that way.
Parenting asks us to slow down when everything in us wants to speed up. It calls us to stay present when all we want to do is escape the moment. It invites us to feel deeply when the world tells us to numb out.
I’ll be honest—this is hard for me too.
There are moments (a lot of them) when I want to rush past the chaos of the behavior or hit “fast forward” through the backtalk, the mess, the emotional intensity of it all. I want quick answers. I want cooperation. I want peace now.
But through practice and pain, I've learned that the real magic of parenting isn’t found in rushing through hard moments.
It’s found in pausing.
The Pause Changes Everything
The pause is what gives you space to breathe instead of react. It’s the difference between yelling and choosing connection. It’s what lets you see the situation—and your child—with clarity and compassion.
When we pause, we interrupt the automatic scripts that were handed to us. We step out of reactivity and into response.
And in that pause—even if it’s only three deep breaths—we discover so much:
A child who’s not trying to defy us, but is struggling to regulate.
A moment that’s not a disaster, but an opportunity for connection.
A part of ourselves that’s been trying so hard to hold it all together.
The pause doesn’t fix everything. But it helps us remember who we want to be.
And it helps our children feel seen, not managed.
The Pause is Where the Beauty Lives
One day, one of my sons came to me with a smart remark. Quite honestly, disrespectful. In that moment, so many thoughts came through my mind. But instead, I paused. I breathed.
Then, I saw it.
My son chose to communicate his intentions instead of acting on them. He was unable to express himself in the moment when he felt hurt. Hurt was all that came out of him. In my rush, I would have missed that and the fact that he was exercising self-control. I would have seen only the behavior. But in the pause,
I saw the human.
And in that moment, I didn’t need to be perfect. I just needed to be present.
Want to Be the Hero of Your Parenting Story?
Spoiler alert: You don’t need a cape. You need a pause.
That’s how we become the heroes of our family stories—not by doing it all perfectly, but by pausing long enough to see what’s really going on. To ask what’s needed. To show up with compassion for our kids and ourselves.
Want More Tools to Help You Pause and Connect?
If this resonates with you, I invite you to join me this summer in one of two powerful opportunities designed to help you shift from reactive to intentional parenting:
🔸 The Nurtured Heart Approach® Workshops
Learn how to redirect intense behavior, build emotional resilience, and see your child through a strength-based lens.
📅 June 30th & July 31
🕢10 - 11 AM EST
🕢12 - 1 PM EST
📅 August 1 – September 5, 2025
🕢 Thursdays at 7:30 PM EST
🔸 12-Week Transformational Parenting Coaching Group
A deeper journey into changing patterns, connecting with your values, and learning practical tools to create calm, consistent parenting—no perfection required.
📅 September 8 – November 24, 2025
🕘 Morning Group: Mondays 9–10 AM EST
🕖 Evening Group: Mondays 7–8 PM EST
➡ Learn more here: https://www.tayloringyourlife.org/transformational-parenting-journey
Final Thought: Pause Isn’t Weakness. It’s Wisdom.
In the stillness, we reconnect. In the breath, we reset. In the pause, we become the kind of parent we always wanted to be.
So the next time it all feels too much, remember this: You don’t have to have the perfect response—just take a pause. That’s where the change begins.
If you're feeling hopeless about the situation in your home and can’t imagine how things could possibly improve, please reach out for a free discovery call. You don’t have to do this alone.
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