Today is National Do Something Nice Day, a day to extend a bit of kindness to those you know and those you don’t. We wanted to focus specifically on new parents today, as the first few weeks and months of being a parent are hard work. A little goes a long way when you have a newborn, here are just a few things you can do to make things easier for them…
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Offer to watch the baby: Chances are they will be very sleep deprived, so if you offer a couple of hours of your time to watch the baby (if you are in a supportive bubble) while they get some shut eye it will be very welcome to help them catch up on all the hours they’ve missed.
Give the gift of food: It’s highly likely that the new parents in your life will have been surviving on ready meals and take-aways for ease because neither of them has the energy to cook. If you can take around the gift of a homemade meal, or batch cook some meals for their freezer, this will stop the cycle of high salt and sugar meals and give them a bit of nutrition their body will be craving.
Offer them some company: Being a new parent can be lonely. After the initial influx of visitors, there is a period of calm and quiet, so be sure to offer them your company (again if you are in a supportive bubble) once this rush is over to keep their spirits up and to tell them all the gossip.
MORE: Seven nice things you can do for the minimalist in your life
Offer to do their shopping: It is a huge undertaking to get a baby out of the house, even to do something as simple as a weekly shop, so if the parents in your life would rather stay tucked up in their PJs than leave the house, offer to take their shopping list and do it for them. The same might apply for picking up a prescription or getting a little top up shop.
Buy them the gift of entertainment: Babies tend to be the ones who get all the gifts at this time and parents are putting in a lot of work for little or no reward. So, do something nice and get them a voucher for Netflix, Amazon Prime or Now TV, so they can have a little time together to enjoy a movie or a couple episodes of a show once the baby goes to sleep.
Bring snacks: New parents often don’t have the time or the energy to sit down to a meal at breakfast, lunch and dinnertime, so healthy snacks are always a great way to perk them up during the day. Why not drop off a bag of fruit, bars and oatcakes to keep them going? When they can only spare a few minutes to eat something, a quick bite such as this would be a blessing.
Give them a call: If you aren’t in a supportive bubble with the new parents in your life right now, offer to give them a call. Ask them when the best time is so you don’t wake the baby and have a chat about things other than parenting. Chances are they will want to discuss anything other than baby related talk, so have a few topics up your sleeve to give them a change of conversation.
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