What if we told you you don’t have to give up your pre-parenting interests and hobbies, and that, actually, it’s considered kind of cool to keep them up after you have a child? 

That’s among the ideas in the first-ever The Future of Parenting report released by popular pregnancy and parenting site The Bump, which “explores emerging parenting shifts and their impact on family structures, drawing from a variety of data sources,” according to a press release. The report uncovers four big trends anticipated to play a huge role in the future of caregiving—empowered parenting, modern families, mini-adulting, and green households. All of them resonate, but the one we’re digging the most is the idea of “mini-adulting.”

This doesn’t mean treating your little one like a grown-up, but rather incorporating adult-like things into their lifestyle and introducing them to some of you (and your partner’s) hobbies and interests. If you love pop culture, the outdoors, cooking, gardening, or sports, you continue to do you. Have the toddler hitch a ride in your backpack on your hike, let them help you in the kitchen while you whip up your baked specialties, or bring your child as a plus one to a sporting event.

Experts suggest including kids in these activities helps to “promote social, emotional, and cognitive growth,” according to the report, plus, parents are happier too since it helps us maintain a sense of self and identity after having kids.

“Mini-me styling” falls under this mini-adulting umbrella too—think matching mommy-and-me outfits or a contemporary, neutral palette in the nursery that matches the rest of the home’s decor. Influencers on social media have made matching dressing popular—and easy, considering a lot of the time they include links so we can purchase whatever they’re wearing—and coordinated styles have become key to many Instagrammable family moments.

Personally, I like to let my kid be a kid, and clearly his interests are not the same as mine, because honestly, do you know any grown women who like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Pokemon? But at the same time, my husband is a die-hard WWE fan, and our 6-year-old is slowly but surely learning the names of the superstars and how things work in the ring (though we won’t let him actually watch wrestling until he’s older). There’s a balance in my household right now of his hobbies and ours, but I’m not opposed to melding those interests a bit more as he gets older!

What are your thoughts on mini-adulting? Do you want your kid to share in your interests, or do you want to keep them as your own?

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