The author is a successful marketing executive in a large consumer good company and a mother of two boys. She has had a rough ride in the past two years and has successfully saved her family from the brink of disaster by working on her parenting style. She has recently built a website www.newparentingstyle.com, which touches upon some effective parenting tips that have helped her in her success.
Parent stress is common, possibly even universal. Parenting is the toughest job in the world and there’s no training manual and no preparation you can do which will really get you ready for the job. You can’t always prevent the events which cause you stress, but you can take action to minimize the parent stress you experience.
Firstly, make sure you have time for yourself. You may laugh at this and say that it’s impossible, but that’s hardly ever the case. Even if it’s fifteen minutes quiet time before you go to bed or when you first get up, it will help. Even some tasks such ironing or washing the dishes can be time for yourself. Listen to music while you are doing the tasks, or simply focus intently on what you are doing. This will turn the activity into a form of relaxing meditation and this can noticeably lower any parent stress you may feel.
Secondly, eat well. It is easy to feed the family and grab a quick bite for yourself late at night when the kids are in bed. That isn’t good for you and could make levels of parent stress worse. If you feed your body correctly then your physical and mental health will benefit. Treats are great – even necessary – once in a while, but a healthy diet will make you feel a whole lot better.
Thirdly, get some fresh air. Even sitting outside watching the kids play, doing some gardening, or hanging out the laundry will help. Listen to the outdoor sounds – maybe birds, other people or animals. Look around you and notice how your surroundings change with the seasons. All stress, not only parent stress, is relieved by spending time with nature and the outdoors.
Fourthly, take time to exercise. It doesn’t have to be a high impact aerobics class in the gym, although that is great! Even pushing a stroller to the park, walking the kids to school instead of taking the car, gardening, or cycle rides with the family will help. Activity with the whole family can reduce family stress, not just parent stress. Exercise has also been shown to help with depression, so it really can make you feel better.
Lastly, sleep is vitally important for keeping stress levels low. It may seem impossible to get enough sleep, especially with infants and young children, but if it means having a very early night sometimes, then it needs to happen. Experts have linked lack of sleep to increased levels of stress, and even depression, so to keep your parent stress levels down it is really important to make sure you get enough.
Parent stress can be a big problem, but if you follow these tips then you will be part of the way to making sure it isn’t a big problem for you.
For more tips on parenting refer to my free e-book “New Parenting Style” on http://www.newparentingstyle.com/index.html.
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