Mom’s Time Out: 10 Secrets to Self-Care
1). Develop a self care, exercise, and healthier habits plan that you can stick with
Being a mom can be overwhelming. Moms are often the glue that hold the family together. They are often the ones attending school meetings, scheduling and attending intra and extracurricular school activities for the kids, planning meals, being a comforter and everything in between. Everything that comes with being a mom is why creating a self-care, exercise, and healthier habits plan is important to establish now.
Self-care, defined as the practice of taking an active role in protecting one’s health and well-being, exercise defined as an activity requiring physical effort and carried out to sustain or improve health and fitness, and healthier habits defined as regularly occurring behaviors that are advantageous to your mental or physical health are important because as mothers life can be stressful. Caring for yourself is the only way to nurture your spiritual, mental, and physical health in order to be the best you that you can be.
When developing a care plan it is important to take the time to sit down and analyze your life and develop sustainable care plans that compliment your life. For example, part of a new self care plan could be the desire to be more consistent with caring for your skin, hair, or nails either as a once per week spa day or making these activities a part of your daily routine. Whatever you decide, whether it’s an at home spa day, an out of home retreat, or quick moments throughout your day it should fit within your current lifestyle.
A new exercise plan could include asking your doctor how many steps you should be walking on a daily basis and attempting to keep track of your progress. Another idea could be to discover new exercises that you enjoy. Of note, along with your new exercise plan, plan to review the plan with your doctor before you officially begin. Finally a healthier habits plan could focus on finding better ways to manage your chronic health conditions or learning more about preventative health. Taking the time to sit down and think about these care plans could make a huge impact on your day to day life.
2). Find a time to enact your plans from #1
As you sketch out your overall care plans take the time to determine what time of day you will enact your plan. Does your schedule allow for you to enact the plan you created from #1 in the morning, afternoon, night, or sporadically during the day. Once you decide when you will carry out your plans remember that you are on a journey not running a sprint. It is ok to forgive yourself if you have to make changes to your plan.
3). Practice mindfulness
Mindfulness is the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. Mindfulness has helped with the regulation of emotions, promoting calmness, and boosting attention and concentration. Mindfulness can easily be integrated within your life (ie. taking the time to savor every taste of your meal, noticing parts of nature you’ve never paid attention to before, or even appreciating your sense of touch. Of note, incorporating our Estate cloths within your daily lifestyle may be a great way to be mindful with touch while also engaging in self care.
4). Consider a new hobby or activity
Taking up a new hobby could be a great way to interject moments of fun within your life as a mom. The activity or hobby you choose should bring you joy and potentially remind you of who you were before motherhood. Start by writing down your ideas. Research local activities in your area that relate to your idea, and make plans to go. If it’s a new hobby, research what you may need for your new hobby, plan when you will purchase the items needed for your hobby, and make a plan to start. Hobbies and activities are one of the best ways for a mother to never forget who they are and were before motherhood.
5). Encourage younger kids to engage in self play activities
If you are a mom with a toddler it may come as no surprise that toddlers are practically attached to you practically every moment of the day, while at the same time being very highly dependent on you for food, affection, bathing, changing diapers, going to sleep, etc. While your toddler is young, take the time to observe your child. Give your child activities and discover what interests your child. Does your child like stacking blocks, playing pretend, or coloring? Take the time to facilitate their interests and occasionally move from an active playing role to an observatory roll, if possible. Over time there may be hope that the toddler will learn how to entertain themselves, freeing up space for you to clean the living room, or do what you need to get done, while you watch closely from afar. *Please note, that an infant/toddler should never be left in the bathtub, left alone, or placed within locations within the house that could place him or her at risk of injuring themselves or others.
6). Be honest with older kids, help older kids understand the importance of mommy’s me time
Older kids have the luxury of understanding language. Consider assigning children at this age minor chores around the house, such as bringing their clothes down to the washroom on wash day, or cleaning their dishes off the table after they finish eating. Make older kids responsible for taking their book bags to their room, and keeping their rooms clean. Overtime, you could consider teaching older kids how to wash their clothes , load the dishwasher, or mop the floor. Consider sitting down with your older kids and honestly explaining to them that as their mom there are moments when you need time alone and that they should respect these periods of time. Also explain to them that, as a mom, you need help with keeping the house clean as there is only one of you and one or multiple of them.
7). Make use of calendars for kid’s events
These days digital calendars are everywhere making it easier to keep track of your kid’s activities. If you have a cell phone, consider downloading a calendar app, as soon as your kid has a scheduled school event mark it on the calendar. Sometimes it could also be helpful to utilize emoji pictures (ie. a small paint easel could be placed next to a school art event) and place them next to your child’s event’s name as a visual reminder of that scheduled activity. Also consider setting your phone reminder to 1 hr and 10 minutes before an event to better plan for ensure that you will get to the event on time.
8). Keep your home compartmentalized and kid proofed to help with easy cleaning and maintenance
Some would say that an organized home is a less stressful home. We would agree. Make use of storage baskets and hidden storage solutions within the home as a way to help keep the house tidy. Invest in kid friendly materials (ie. quartz for the kitchen counters, low pile rugs for the living room, and scotch guard for chairs). These are simple changes that can make clean-up easier and to make the home more efficient with kids.
9). Make use of your support system
Your support system is the team of friends and family members who you can depend on during good and bad times. Identifying a support system is very critical for all moms.Your support system can act as the support pillars of your life. They are the team that will notice a problem and offer solutions before it gets out of hand. They will often prevent you from falling.
10).) Try not to be hard on yourself
Forgot to dress your son up in his pajamas for pajama day and now he’s upset with you?, or you weren’t able to sign up to give a class snack? That’s ok! This final point is an important point. Most mothers strive for perfectionism and rarely give themselves a pat on the back for what they are doing- which is raising a child until the age of at least 18. Motherhood can be hard. Every mother before you, no matter how easy they make it appear, has had difficulties. Know in your heart that you are a wonderful mother, and continue striving to be a better you. We hope that the above tips will help.
Has this article helped you? How do you plan to be a better you?
