Owning Your Role as Guide
Why Your Family Doesn’t Need a Hero, They Need You
Hi friends,
I’m Grace Berios—mom of five, new author, and someone who’s spent way too many hours in carpool lines (about two to three hours a day, six years in a row, but who’s counting?). If that doesn’t qualify me for a degree in patience—or at least a reserved parking spot—I don’t know what does. And yes, I’m a believer in school choice…and let’s just say most of my choices don’t involve public transportation.
Here’s what I’ve learned through all those miles, meals, and messes: parenting is equal parts beautiful and soul-sucking. You love your people fiercely, but you also wonder if you’ll ever drink a hot cup of coffee again without reheating it three times. Side note—that’s why you’ll almost always find me with a tumbler in hand.
And yet—right in the middle of that chaos is a truth that changed everything for me: you’re not meant to be the hero of your family’s story. You’re meant to be the Guide.
🌳 The Big Idea: Why Guide > Hero
Heroes swoop in and fix everything. Victims get swept under. Villains try to control the whole script.
Guides? Guides walk with. They point the way, they stay steady, they show up consistently. That’s the role our families actually need from us—not perfection, but presence.
If you’re a busy parent wondering how to raise resilient kids, it doesn’t start with grand gestures. It starts with small, intentional systems that keep your family grounded.
✨ Three Practical Ways to Guide Well
1. Own Your Bookends
The first and last 30 minutes of your day matter more than you think. In our house, mornings start with gratitude and prayer, and evenings end with a simple wind-down ritual. These little anchors create a sense of security my kids can rely on—even when the rest of the day is unpredictable.
👉 Parenting Tip: Take advantage of the carpool season. With your kids strapped in, you actually have an attentive audience for a short while (and trust me—you’ll miss this window once they’re driving at 16!). Before I put the car—or as I like to call it, “the bus”—into drive each morning, I pray over each of my kids and speak a blessing over our day, event, or activity.
At night, we make it a point to sit down together for dinner. We pray, share about our day, and I gently steer the conversation toward gratitude and what went right. Nine times out of ten, we end the meal laughing together—and that joy is the best “high note” to close the day on.
2. Batch the Chaos
I call this Batch Bossing. Instead of drowning in laundry every day, I pick one day and knock it out in one focused rhythm. Same with meal prep, errands, even email. Grouping tasks gives me the mental margin to show up for the moments that matter most.
👉 Parenting Tip: Choose one day for laundry and stick with it. Your sanity (and your sock drawer) will thank you.
And here’s the fun part: once the kids get old enough to start managing their own laundry, they instinctively figure out how to batch it too. Around here, it’s not unusual to hear one of mine upstairs folding to the beat of a podcast, or stacking towels during an episode of their favorite show. They don’t even realize they’re habit-stacking—they’re just finding their own rhythm. And honestly? That’s the point.
Batching teaches them that systems aren’t about control; they’re about freedom. When you batch the chaos, you create room for joy, presence, and the things that actually matter.
3. Stack Habits with Joy
Guiding your family doesn’t mean slogging through drudgery. Pair what you have to do with what you want to do. Fold clothes while watching your favorite show. Cook dinner with music blasting.
👉 Parenting Tip: Ask your kids to pick the playlist for dinner prep. Suddenly meal prep feels like a family event, not a chore.
In our house, even chores turn into dance parties. Our youngest has the job of emptying the dishwasher, but here’s the catch: he insists on doing it to whatever soundtrack he’s obsessed with that month. It does take a while, because he empties each dish to the beat of the music—and yes, he absolutely insists that the rest of us sing or dance along. The dishwasher gets emptied, and the whole kitchen fills with joy.
Consistency beats intensity every single time—but if you can add joy to the mix, that consistency becomes a memory your kids will never forget.
🧡 A Reminder for You
Parenting is messy, exhausting, and holy all at once. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t have to fix every problem. You don’t have to be the hero.
You just have to guide—through the unexpected, through the ordinary, through the next right step. And in doing so, you’re raising something far greater than “perfect kids.” You’re raising great humans.
And that, my friend, is a story worth owning.
📌 Let’s Stay Connected
Want more encouragement + practical tools for intentional parenting?
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📸 Instagram: @raisinggraceandlittlebird
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📘 Facebook: @raisinggraceandlittlebird