The BEST Parenting Tip to Keep Moms Sane and Give You Some Time to Yourself

In this episode of Intentional Motherhood: Parenting Tips to Deepen Family Relationships, While Preserving Your Self-Identity, Kelsey Redd shares why independent play is one of the most powerful tools for your child’s emotional regulation, social development, and confidence — and a lifeline for moms to find peace, rest, and balance in daily motherhood.

Learn how independent play helps kids build emotional resilience, problem-solving skills, creativity, and healthy sibling relationships. Kelsey also explains how solitary and sibling play both serve vital roles in developing empathy, leadership, conflict resolution, and self-confidence. Rooted in spiritual mindfulness and intentional parenting, this episode will inspire you to create a calmer, more connected family culture — without the constant pressure to entertain your kids 24/7.

Plus, Kelsey offers honest encouragement for moms: how allowing your child space for independent play is not only beneficial for them — but also essential for your own mental health, spiritual renewal, and mindful parenting.

✨ Topics Covered:

• Benefits of independent play for emotional regulation & social skills
• How independent play fosters creativity, resilience, and confidence
• The role of siblings in independent play and conflict resolution
• Why boredom is a gift for child development
• How independent play supports mindful, intentional motherhood
• Protecting moms from burnout, overstimulation, and decision fatigue

🌿 Whether you’re a stay-at-home mom, homeschooler, or simply trying to create a more peaceful home, this episode offers practical insight into building a family culture rooted in mindfulness, spirituality, and adventure.

🎧 Tune in now and start building the rhythm of independent play into your home!
Follow Kelsey @creating.intentional.mothers

#intentionalmotherhood #independentplay #emotionregulationforkids #mindfulparenting #familyculture #spiritualparenting #momlife #peacefulparenting #christianmotherhood #selfcareformoms #parentingpodcast

Episode Transcript

Kelsey Redd (00:10):
Hi friends, welcome to Intentional Motherhood. I
wanted to take a minute here andshare some exciting news with
you. Did you catch it? You mayhave noticed that the podcast
has a new name. What started asmotherhood, the best job in the
world, has now becomeIntentional Motherhood.

(00:37):
So why the change? Well, as thiscommunity has grown, so has the
heart and vision behind what Iam sharing. I wanted the title
to really reflect what I'm doinghere, which is helping moms just
like you build intentionalhomes, be proactively thinking
about the family culture they'recreating, nurturing kids'

(01:00):
emotional and spiritualdevelopment, and create
beautiful family cultures rootedin presence, purpose, joy,
adventure. And full disclosure,I just wanted a name of a
podcast that would allow moremoms to find it. My goal here is

(01:20):
all about helping moms who aresearching for this kind of
support to have what they need.
And I'm hoping that this newtitle makes it a little bit
easier for the right moms todiscover these conversations and
join our community. So thank youso much for being here, whether
you've been here from the verybeginning of motherhood, the

(01:41):
best job in the world, or if youjust found the show, I'm so
grateful to be walking thisjourney with you. Let's get
started.
So today we're talking aboutsomething that is honestly one
of my favorite parenting tricks.It is probably the most powerful
tool for our children's socialand emotional development, as

(02:05):
well as a huge gift to ourselvesas the mothers. Giving us time
and space to breathe, to reset,and to parent from a place of
peace and presence.
So what is this number one mostimportant parenting tip and
trick I'm going to share withyou? This is the skill of

(02:27):
independent play. So let's talkabout what independent play
actually does for our kids andwhy it's a skill that needs to
be taught and nurtured and notjust something we can expect
them to do. of all, independentplay allows children to

(02:48):
experiment with and learnemotional regulation skills.
When kids are playingindependently, whether that's by
themselves or actually withsiblings, they are in a
imaginary space to process,feel, and manage their emotions
on their own terms. You mightnotice that you have kids who

(03:14):
whisper talking out littlestories with their toys or in
their imagination. They'reprocessing something that may
have happened that day orearlier, or they're just
exploring feelings throughcreative play. This is emotional
self regulation in action. Thenext skill that kids practice
while they play independently isproblem solving and creativity.

(03:39):
They're going to have to figureout how do I build this tower?
How do I make this puzzle work?What do I do when I'm missing a
piece or missing a toy? How am Igoing to make this work? Without
someone jumping in to fix it,they practice persistence and
problem solving.
Those moments grow resiliencyeventually in kids. And you

(04:00):
might be wondering, how doesthis work when we introduce
siblings, right? This isactually a really important
social development skill thatkids have to experience. This is
where kids on their own termsstart to understand leadership
and following directions, how tomanage disagreements. They pick

(04:23):
up social cues from other kidswhen they don't have to have an
adult come and tell them what todo.
Because guess what? When youkeep knocking over your sister's
tower and now your sisterdoesn't wanna play with you
anymore, You have just learned alesson from a kid instead of
being told by a parent, Hey,don't knock over the toys. Hey,

(04:47):
make sure you play nice.Sometimes these natural social
consequences are actually moreimpactful than the lessons we
try to impose onto our children.So this is really great for
siblings playing together or forkids playing alone.
And I honestly recommend thatyou have a little bit of both if

(05:09):
you can. If you can managegiving them space to play all by
themselves sometimes, that'sgreat. If it's always with
siblings, that's awesome too,because not only are they
learning these social skills,they're also bonding. Isn't that
what we want in our families?Don't we want our children to
have connection, sharedmemories, sense of belongings,

(05:31):
and really a foundation for alifelong sibling friendship?
The next skill that children getfrom independent play is self
confidence. There's actuallysomething deeply empowering for
a child when they realize thatthey can entertain themselves
and that they can createsomething from nothing. You may
have heard that boredom is thebest gift you can give your

(05:54):
child. And I would say that'strue, especially when you back
off and let them figure it outfor themselves. So this fosters
confidence, independence, and ahealthy self esteem.
And lastly, I just want toreiterate the social skills that
are built from independent playbecause I want to differentiate

(06:15):
a little bit. of all, whenindependent play is happening
alone, it is still supportingsocial development by allowing
kids to practice imaginaryconversations, storytelling, and
role plays with their toys andtheir dolls. It's like they're
rehearsing real life scenarios.And they're learning how to be

(06:38):
the mom, how to comfort the dollthat got hurt, or how to serve
the tea party to their toys, orhow to rescue the victims that
got hurt. They're puttingthemselves into different roles
because they're playing all theroles.
And that is an amazingopportunity to learn empathy,

(06:59):
perspective taking, and evencommunication. And in this
situation, I'm mainly justtalking about independent play
in your own home throughout theday in little segments. We will
have plenty of episodes talkingabout independent play out in
nature and unsupervised socialtime with friends. But for right

(07:22):
now, I'm just mostly talkingabout you in your own home day
to day. And this is why I'mgoing to get to the next point I
want to make, which is whyindependent play is such a gift
to yourself.
Because let's be real, when ourkids are playing independently,
it is an absolute lifesaver forus. It allows us a moment to

(07:49):
pause, to lay down, to get abite to eat, maybe even to
meditate or pray or readscripture, this is a moment that
we can take for ourselves totake care of ourselves. Allowing
our kids to play independentlyalso actually allows us to be a

(08:09):
more mindful parent becausewe're allowing ourselves to not
just constantly react to everylittle demand or need, but to be
able to respond morethoughtfully and intentionally
when they do need us and toteach them that sometimes I'm
going to take a pause and you'regonna have to figure it out on
your own. And when I come backand when I enter back into the

(08:32):
dynamic here, I will be morepresent and I will respond to
you. Lastly, allowing our kidsto play independently is a
protection for us against thedangerous cycle of constant
overstimulation and burnout.
We need to have some time thatallows us to just take care of

(08:53):
ourselves, to let our mind workin a different way, that's not
just in mommy mode, to maybe getsomething done that has needed
to get done, or just to rest.Like I said, I know it sounds so
unheard of to rest inmotherhood, but what if you
built that into your day? Whatif that was part of your
intentional parenting was to beable to have a moment to rest?

(09:15):
Now you're probably thinkingthis all sounds too good to be
true. My kids don't play likethat.
There's no way my kids would dothis. But you're going to want
to stick around because I'mgoing to teach you in the next
episode how to actually teachand encourage independent play

(09:35):
with your kids so that you canhave this kind of experience
because I want you to be able tobe present when it's time to be
present and pause and take amoment to care for yourself when
you have the chance to do that,while also allowing your kids to
develop emotional regulation,social skills, creative problem

(09:57):
solving in a way that they'resupposed to, which is through
play. So stick around for thenext episode, and we'll talk all
about how to teach independentplay. I'll see you next time on
Intentional Motherhood.