No-one said that parenting was easy and some days, you may feel as though you’re really struggling to keep on top of everything, which can lead to strains on family relationships. All moms have huge demands placed on your shoulders, which you’re forced to juggle every single day, as well as maintaining your social and romantic relationships, carrying out domestic duties, going to work and finally, finding that extra bit of time to focus on yourself. If this is your current situation right now, don’t panic too much. There are several ways you can regain control and recharge your batteries to keep parenting stress to a minimum and allow you to be in the best possible mental and physical shape for your children.
Take some time out
There’s nothing wrong with taking some time out from your parenting duties once in a while – especially if you’re a single parent who is forced to balance absolutely everything alone. On the other hand, if you have a partner, your romantic relationship may be suffering due to lack of time and space to connect with one another once you become parents. If you have close friends and family who would be willing to babysit on the occasion, ensure you make the most of the offer by taking the time to focus on your own needs.
One idea to revitalize yourself would be to attend a wellness program, which is designed to force you to focus on several guiding principles to help improve your quality of life.
Don’t overstretch yourself
As kids reach high school age, there is so much more to think and worry about than when they were just toddlers. Essentially, you’ll become the taxi service when they want to see friends, go to clubs or partake in any other social activities. It’s easy to become overstretched as a result of over-scheduling your week to suit all of your children, leaving you with very little time for yourself and your other responsibilities. Although it may be important to you to do all in your power to ensure your kids have the very best start to life, overdoing it is sure to lead to burn out at some stage. It may be time to sit down with the family and work out a new routine to prevent this occurring.
Find a good support group
In order to cope through some of your most difficult challenges as a parent, it’s important to have a support group around you whom you can turn to; whether that be your family, friends, or other moms either in the playground or on online forums. Talking to others who have been through similar situations should offer some perspective and they may even be able to offer their own opinions as to how to solve the dilemma. Whoever you choose to turn to, your support group should be individuals you feel 100% comfortable with, to whom you can freely express your thoughts, feelings and emotions.