11 Parenting Trends Millennials Are Ditching In 2026

I love a checklist of reminders for my kids, but these overly complicated chore charts? They’ve got to go. There are apps, there are magnetic charts, there are giant customizable dry-erase boards — it’s all too much. And it makes giving your kids chores and encouraging them to be a part of the team at home way more overwhelming than it needs to be. Let’s simplify this in 2026, can we? Whether we use our SkyLight calendars or just a note on the fridge, kids just need to know how to help out and go from there.

Every now and then, I come across an Instagram reel or TikTok that says we have to stop telling our children, “No.” Apparently, we’re supposed to be asking them questions when our answer is no, hoping they’ll realize for themselves why jumping off the top of the stairs is a bad idea or why they can’t stay up until 3 a.m. on a school night.

But you know what? Let’s bring back the word “no.” We don’t have to be weird about it, and we don’t have to become “because I said so” parents. We can still explain our reasoning and the why behind our “no”s, but pretending like the word “no” is somehow detrimental to children? We’re done with it.

You know how we tell our kids we need a 10-minute break? Or, at least, we run and hide from them in the bathroom and scream things like, “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, LET ME POOP IN PEACE”? OK, that’s a time-out, and I’m not sure why the parenting trend gods are trying to make us villainize time-outs for our kids. There’s this whole segment of the internet that thinks time-outs are bad and antiquated and make kids feel horrible, but that’s only if your version of a time-out involves locking your kid in a room for an hour without giving them any context.

So, bring back time-outs and bring them back the right way: remove your kid from a situation that isn’t serving them, explain to them why you think they need a break, give them a time limit that is doable and helpful (like sometimes they just need two minutes), and then talk about it after.

Giving everybody some space is helpful. And I promise, your kid isn’t traumatized from sitting on the couch for two minutes or sitting on the floor of their own bedroom.

Guys. We have to let our kids spread their wings a bit. I have been a helicopter parent way more than I ever thought I would be, and it sucks. Of course there are very real threats out there every day for our kids, but generally, our kids are fine. We should let them (safely) walk to the neighbor’s house by themselves, or go into a gas station and buy themselves a candy bar while we pump gas, or let them be in charge of their own homework every night.

We want to help them and guide them and remind them of the things they should be doing, but I’m hoping that in 2026 I can give my kids more of the freedom (and life lessons that come with that freedom) that I had as a millennial.

If your child actually wants a gray bedroom with gold accents and bows everywhere, then fine, go for it. But I am so exhausted by this parenting trend of turning our kids’ bedrooms into two-page spreads for a decor magazine. What happened to kids using stickers on the back of their doors and filling their bookshelves with their own random treasures? 2026 should be the year you let your kids tape a poster to their wall, the year you let them choose the ugliest lamp you’ve ever seen for their bedside table, and the year you let them make their own spaces completely and 100% their own.

Put their artwork on the walls, let their toys sit out on your fancy coffee table, stop spray-painting Cozy Coupes into tiny little beige monstrosities — in 2026, we are no longer Beige Mom’ing our house or trying to scrub away any evidence that we have children and they live there.

I would personally like to shut down all of the horrible thoughts in our heads that tell us we can’t just invite our friends over unless we A) have a charcuterie board ready to go, B) have the house perfectly cleaned and aesthetically pleasing, and C) have some kind of activity to do together or with our kids that adheres to the theme we’ve made up.

Instagram Reels and TikTok videos can share some incredibly lovely and inspiring ideas about inviting people over, sure. But at the end of the day, it’s just about spending time with your friends. Millennials have decades of sleepovers and random hangout days under our belts — let’s invite our friends over again.

I love the perspective of having home be a safe place for our kids, where they never feel like they need to take care of themselves on their own or be pushed too hard to grow up. However, I’ve also gone too far with that and realized at one point that my kids were plenty old enough to pour themselves a bowl of cereal or get themselves a snack if they’re hungry. At some point, we have to stop romanticizing the caretaking part of raising kids and romanticize the “teaching them how to care for themselves” part. Kids want to help.

So, make 2026 the year you let them use a knife on their own to help with dinner, the year they bring their own laundry down and make up their bed with fresh sheets, the year they pack their own lunches. Of course, it’s OK to care for your kids in these ways and help them out, but never letting them do it themselves is really not going to bode well in a few years.

Listen, a birthday party is for your kid, and they don’t give a sh*t if the invitations match the napkins or if there’s a cohesive theme with handmade favors and an Instagram-worthy photo backdrop. They just want a party to celebrate their birthday, and you just want to enjoy the birthday party with your kids. So, stop letting your brain tell you that a cake from the grocery store and balloons and games in the backyard aren’t enough.

“The tween years are hard, mama, but they don’t have to be with my $99 Tween Parent Guide.”

“Little kids have big feelings, but here’s how to manage your own with my Toddler Tantrum Handbook for $125.”

“Kids are supposed to sleep so you can too, Mama. My Just Close Your Eyes Starter Pack is only $75 and full of the advice you *actually* need.”

I know you’ve seen some variation of these posts before. I know you’ve been tempted to buy them! Listen, I’m not saying every parenting “expert” on Instagram is a scam, but, like… most of them are. There is no blanket parenting advice except love your kid, so pinning all of your hopes on some Instagram guide to solve all of your worries about your kid? Save your money. If you’re really panicked about something, call a friend. Call your pediatrician. Call your mom. They’ll have more tailored advice for you and your family.

My favorite piece of parenting advice is to trust your instinct. It sounds so stupid and trite, especially when a new mom is completely frazzled (and I mean “new mom” in the sense that every day is a new day as a parent, and some of us feel like brand new moms roughly every six weeks when a milestone occurs), but I really mean it. Parenting trends and advice have pushed us away from our instincts and tried to convince us that we need to follow some weird set of rules instead of adapting to what works for us and our families.

From screen-time rules to sleeping arrangements to scheduling your kid’s life, everyone has an opinion. Some people think you should have no extracurricular activities so you can bond at home with your kids, and some people believe the best bonding happens at sports practice. Some people will tell you that screens should be completely limited and to let kids get bored, and some will know that your own mental well-being sometimes relies on an episode of YouTube Kids keeping your child occupied so you can just breathe.

Everyone is different. Every family, every kid, every parenthood journey is different. So in 2026, let’s take what works and throw out the rest. Let’s focus on our own parenting instincts and trust that we love our kids enough to be able to handle anything that comes our way — yes, even the teen years.