5 Tips to Make your Parenting Research Efficient and Effective 

We’ve been there: the kiddos are finally down for nap, you sit down with a cup of coffee (probably re-heated from this morning), and take out your phone. 

Finally! 

The chance you’ve been waiting for to read that blog article about setting up a basement play area for the toddler. You’ve been trying to research what furniture you want to buy and how to organize all the toys for weeks now. But now that you’ve sat down, you’ve got to check your emails quickly, and you see a different blog post in your inbox that looks interesting. So you click, click, and click again… and soon enough, you hear the baby crying… Time’s up for today. 

When it comes to researching parenting decisions, you don’t have all the time in the world. And even when you have the free time, it’s so hard to stay focused on the decision you need to make. We get it! But how can you make the most of the time you do have? 

After experiencing that feeling of running out of time ourselves, here are our top 5 researching tips. 

Tip #1: Choose your topic in advance 

Having a singular focus can make all the difference when you’re trying to read articles or posts about a certain topic so you can make a decision. Like in the example above, there’s always new content, so it’s easy to get off track. 

When you plan to do some research, choose the topic you’ll focus on in advance and then try to continue to remind yourself to stick to it when you see distractions. Referencing your personal list of topic priorities may be helpful. Especially when you have limited time, you’ll feel more productive and accomplished if you’re able to focus on a single topic and actually follow through with a decision you feel confident about. 

Tip #2: Set a time limit 

This may sound like a tip your professor gave you in college when studying for finals, but setting a time limit can be effective. Mentally, knowing that you only have 30 minutes to research this topic can motivate you to focus more effectively. Use a physical timer in your home or on your phone if that helps your personality. Sometimes, all the motivation we need to stick to a time limit is knowing we also need to wash the dishes and clean the living room before nap time ends! 

Maybe you need to spread your time out over several days or weeks, and work towards your decision goal in small chunks, or maybe you can sit down for a big chunk of time and get that decision checked off all at once. Whatever fits your schedule best, the important thing is to facilitate staying focused on the topic you’ve chosen. 

Tip #3: Pick only a few resources to review 

When you sit down for that dedicated research time, start by choosing just a few resources that you plan to use for that decision topic. We constantly remind ourselves that we don’t need to read it all! While there’s tons of articles out there about climbing furniture and jungle gyms for toddlers, picking out several that you plan to read might help streamline your time. That way, you don’t get stuck scrolling and scrolling and end up researching something completely different without getting the information you were really looking for.   

Whether you’re hoping to read a book, listen to a podcast, read an article, or scroll social media content, take two minutes to outline a quick plan before you delve in. 

Tip #4: Trust your intuition 

With so many voices influencing our parenting decisions from all sides, it can be all too easy to allow yourself to doubt and question the choices you’ve made. This can lead you down the road of feeling like you need to keep researching, and researching, and researching, without ever getting to the point of making a decision. 

If you’re feeling this way, remind yourself that your intuition as a parent is sometimes the best decision maker. You know your family and your children best! Use the above tips to set aside a specific amount of time, learn what you need, and then move forward. You can always revisit a decision later, if you feel you need to re-evaluate. 

Tip #5: Know when to stop 

Sometimes, you just need to be done researching! Maybe that feeling of running out of time is actually a mental indication that you’ve spent enough time on this topic and it’s time to make a decision and move forward. Listening to your parenting intuition is a helpful way to cultivate this skill of knowing when you’ve done enough research and you’re ready to commit. 

How do you best manage your parenting research? Consider spending a few minutes today to reflect on the way you’ve spent time learning as a parent thus far and maybe make just one small improvement to your strategy.