Cut Yourself Some Slack.
Hi There,
An enormous source of stress for most parents right now is their young kids. Parenting has historically been the most rewarding job on the planet. But our new pandemic era has made this job especially challenging. How are parents expected to get their work done while home schooling and/or supervising the kids full-time, with no after school programs, play dates or birthday parties to cut them some slack? Parents have been stretched to their emotional limit, and it’s downright EXHAUSTING!
Thanks to some valuable input from the many creative parents in my life, I have compiled a short list of the best tried-and-true tactics to help you manage this unprecedented moment in time:
• A father of three children under 5 years old starts the family’s day with stretching exercises and a meditation. This is beneficial to the whole family, and often results in giggles and laughter (a known stress reducer!)
• A couple takes turns with a pre-dinner neighborhood walk detail while the other prepares dinner and enjoys some “quiet time”.
• A couple takes shifts helping their 4 kids below the age of 7 with schoolwork. The “morning lark” of the two does some of her own work and then gets the kids up and going while the “night owl” finishes sleeping. When the night owl assumes kid duty, the morning lark does work that requires interaction from her colleagues. The afternoon kid duties fall to the morning lark while the night owl does her work.
• A family of 4, with two young teenagers, uses dinnertime as family sharing time, when each family member reveals something they learned or appreciated that day.
Clearly, these are not one-size-fits-all solutions to this perpetual challenge. The good news is that this problem will eventually come to an end. For now, each of us gets to choose our own stress-reducing practices (exercise, humor, appreciation, etc.) during the cracks and crevices of a day to help refresh the body and brain.
What’s been working for you and your family? I hope you’ll share your secrets with our professional community. I also hope you’ll take advantage of our Women’s History Month Resources Page, which was updated just this morning with additional resources related to Breaking the Glass Ceiling, Work/Life Balance, Motherhood, Family Planning, and COVID. Link to the DRIVEN webpage HERE.
Cheers!
-Deborah
Deborah Goldstein
DRIVEN Professionals / Forbes / Linkedin
info@drivenpros.com | LinkedIn
DRIVEN Professionals, 35 Adrienne Lane, Garrison, NY 10524