The African proverb ‘It takes a village to raise a child‘ means the work put forth in raising a child cannot be done alone; an entire community must participate to some extent in the task. So, why am I writing about the task of raising a child on a minimalist website? Minimalism is much more than living a life with less stuff. It’s about getting rid of all the clutter and useless stuff to allow one to focus on the important things and live a meaningful life. What can possibly be more important than your child? This is one of those few cases where I believe that ‘more is better‘!

The more good-hearted, and well-intentioned, people that are involved in your child’s life the better. I’m all for a strong and well grounded support structure. Yes, it’s hard to relinquish some of the lessons learned to others when it comes to your own child. You want to believe that you can teacher them everything. But let’s face it, that’s not reality. There are going to be times in your child’s life when they may not feel comfortable coming to you with something. This is when your work at putting together a solid support structure comes into play. You, and your child, should feel comfortable with another member of the support framework providing the occasional guidance.

Let’s face it. Life is pretty darn difficult at times. By building a strong support structure for your child to rely on, you are not giving up on parenting, you are investing in providing a strong bond with your child and their extended family. The more people that love your child and are anxious to help, should the need arise, the better off they will be.

Yes, ‘more is better‘ when it comes to raising children.