Things parents can stop caring about

Before you have kids, you swear you won’t be that parent... the one who gets anxious about nap schedules or second guesses every snack.

Then the baby arrives, and suddenly you’re crying because you forgot tummy time.

You’re deep in a forum thread about TOG ratings.

You’re Googling if your 14-month-old should be stacking blocks vertically or horizontally.

Here’s the truth no one tells you:

You’re allowed to stop caring about some things.

Not because they don’t matter at all, but because they don’t matter enough to take up the space they’ve been renting in your brain. Just ask any parent of 3+ kids... they often are the chillest parents because they have stopped caring about some things that don't serve their lives.

Let’s take a leaf out of their book and release a few together.

The perfect sleep schedule

Yes, sleep matters.

But guess what? Real life doesn’t run on 7:00–7:00 with three 90-minute naps and an exact wake window.

What matters more:

• Looking at your baby’s tired signs

• Keeping things consistent-ish

• Prioritising connection over strict clock-watching

The “right” way to feed them

Purees? Baby-led weaning? Homemade kale muffins?

They’ll all end up throwing food on the floor at some point.

What matters more:

• Variety over time

• Low-pressure exposure

• Eating together when you can

• Not spiralling over what they eat in a single day

Milestone tracking like it’s a race

There will always be a chart, an app, or a well-meaning stranger telling you what your kid should be doing.

What matters more:

• Watching for progress, not perfection

• Trusting your gut and asking for help when something really feels off

• Knowing every child’s timeline is different (and that doesn’t mean yours is broken)

Having a perfectly regulated response every time

You’ll yell.

You’ll bribe.

You’ll lose it over glitter glue.

That doesn’t undo your love, it just makes you human.

What matters more:

• Repairing after the rupture

• Modelling that it’s okay to feel things and try again

• Knowing your kids don’t need perfection — just presence

Being “on top of everything”

Spoiler: no one is.Even the parents who look like they’ve got it all together are burning toast, crying in the car, or forgetting daycare dress-up day.

What matters more:

• Being responsive, not reactive

• Letting some balls drop (because not all balls are glass)

• Remembering that parenting is not a performance — it’s a relationship

What Yawn helps you care less about

• Conflicting advice online

• Perfect nap math

• Remembering which food you introduced when

• Whether you’re “doing it right”

• That one thing your cousin said at lunch that got under your skin

Yawn doesn’t simply give you answers, it helps you filter what matters for your family.

Because some things? They’re just noise.