75% of Parents Are Stressed…Is That You?
Sometimes it feels like you’re in a pressure-cooker that’s about to explode!
I worked one time with my Mom and Grandma canning green beans. I had never canned before and as a teenager, I was fascinated and a little freaked out as I saw the pressure gauge go up and up and up. I think I even moved across the room in case it just happened to explode and impale everyone in sight.
It didn’t, and we made it through the green bean experiment with whole bodies.
Pressure in life and parenting is kind of similar.
Sometimes we are under so much stress that we feel like we are the ones inside the pressure cooker and it’s about to blow up.
You’re not alone.
Let me prove it to you by throwing out a few common pressures that we all face. When you call something for what it is, the fear of it tends to disappear.
Common Mom Pressures:
“I feel like I’m always behind on the chores.”
The game plan that worked for me:
- Take the baby to the babysitter for three hours a week (that’s when I do weekly chores)
- Pick three main chores to do every day. Everything else that you don’t get done, you can do on the babysitter day. (My three are 1 load of laundry, dishes after every meal, and making the beds.)
- Have everything done before supper and reserve the entire evening for family and fun time. (Seriously, this will lower your stress level so much. Unfortunately, a lot of times it doesn’t happen, but enjoy it when it does.)
- If you take a trip, acknowledge that you will be behind on housework and meals for at least three days after you get home.
“I can never understand all the hidden rules that my in-laws have.”
What are hidden rules? It’s like when you walk into a new place and you realize you should be sitting when you’re standing, or eating with a different fork.
It’s all those little habits that your spouse and his siblings grew up with and know by heart, but you always seem to forget about.
- Ask straight out. “Do you expect ___ when we come over to your house?”
- Don’t beat yourself up for not remembering all the little rules. Also, don’t feel like you have to do them, either. It’s your family, your kids.
- Give yourself time to learn how they do things. Sit back and watch for patterns, then ask why they do certain things. Pretend you’re learning a new language.
“My kids seem to only act up when other people are watching.”
This is actually a thing.
- I’m convinced that even tiny little kids know when others are watching and they can get more attention for acting up.
- Kids always push limits in public because 1) they know you feel reserved in disciplining in front of people, 2) attention, and 3) they can tell that it pushes your buttons.
- Bonus Tip: A lot of kids act better at school than they do at home. True fact. I think it’s a combination of structure and expectations. At home, we tend to be tired after work and let things go.
Here are some things that you can do today to release some of that steam.
- Acknowledge that people have opinions, but you don’t have to go by any of them.
- Set yourself free from other people’s expectations of what your house /kids /spouse/ car/ etc. should look like.
- Do what makes you and your family happy and don’t worry about anyone else.
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