Raising children is like an Olympic sport because of the pressures put on parents by society, according to Line Marie Perron in her Saturday talk Olympic Parenting: Reaching the Summit Without Reaching Your Limits.

The keynote speaker at the fourth annual Parents Matter parenting conference broke her talk into topics, including: pregnancy para-Olympics, consumer competition, milestones marathon, safety sprinting event, preschool hurdles, guilt and exhaustion biathlon and the technology triathlon. Perron is a mother of five based in Edmonton, with a psychology degree and a master’s degree in family ecology and practice from the University of Alberta.

“So many parents have so much pressure today,” Perron said. “Pressures that we were not experiencing as parents 25 or 30 years ago. There is the pressure to conform, the pressure to buy all the wonderful things that kids supposedly need and I think in reality kids only need to feel connected to us, capable, counted and courageous.”

Perron said the stress for parents often starts even before a child is born, as mothers worry about what foods to avoid during their pregnancy and parents try to come up with a unique name for their newborn.

She said it moves on to people trying to buy the best for their children, with a race to get the best stroller for many new parents. Parents will often compete for how their child is doing compared to others of a similar age, comparing when their daughter or son first starts teething, crawling and walking.

Even protecting children from danger can be stressful for parents.

“There is a real push to keep our kids safe. As if somehow we can get them to adulthood without a scrape, without a fall, without anything,” Perron said. She pointed to items like baby kneepads for infants learning to crawl and helmets for toddlers starting to walk. “Babies are meant to crawl. You don’t need to protect them against that.”

Parents also want to ensure their children have access to things like dance and piano lessons and sports, often even when they’re just toddlers. But Perron advised that it’s also important to leave time for creative unstructured play. “The barometer should be. If you’re exhausted from their activities as the end of the week then they are too,” Perron said.

Perron said parents also need to look after themselves by keeping their bodies physically healthy, continuing to be emotionally connected with their partners, friends and family and staying spiritually aligned.

The conference was put on by Family Services of Central Alberta at 5409 50 Ave., which provides support services, support groups, parent education, play programs and adult daycare for families. Other seminars during the conference looked at money management, getting children to the finish line, overall wellness and why gender matters.

Judy Scott, Village Gate Parent Link manager, said the conference started four years ago when parents wanted more information and she hopes those who attended on Saturday leave with new knowledge about parenting.

sobrien@reddeeradvocate.com