Healthcare 101: Four Ways Mom Can Treat Herself
The back-to-school routine may be hardest on Moms.* You’ve gotten the kids back on track for a new school year, organized shopping excursions for clothes and supplies, made lists and checked them twice to ensure everything and everyone was ready when that first school bell rang. What about a little stress relief for you — the “super mom” who manages it all? Consider four ways that you can pamper yourself to avoid the back-to-school blues.
Join a Digital Book Club
How much of your time is spent just waiting? You wait in the car for the kids to get out of school. You wait in line to pick them back up. You wait again while they do their homework. Why not put that waiting to time to use with a good book?
If you can’t fit a traditional book club into your schedule, a digital subscription to an eBook club or membership to an audiobook service might help put all that waiting to good use. You can read while you sit in the car, get in a chapter as you soak in the tub or escape to another world while you wait during soccer practice.
Exercise in the Car
Tightening and relaxing key muscles on demand is an age-old stress relief technique that you can do right in the car. Make a game out of quietly contracting targeted muscles at each light. For example, Mondays might be your leg day (Wednesdays might be arm day, and so forth), so while you are carting the kids to school, tighten up those calf muscles and hold them until the light changes. Repeat the exercise at every stop light and use your drive time to relax naturally.
Find That One Thing You Love
Make the first hour after the kids are at school your time to do something you love. Maybe that is your hour at the gym or a hot, leisurely bath (bubbles, anyone?). You can also spend that hour having coffee and reading the paper at your local coffee shop or taking an online class to challenge yourself. Find that one thing you just love to do but never seem to have time for — and do it in that first “free” hour. That is your time, so put it to use!
Take One Day Off
Being a mom is a full-time job that rarely comes with time off – unless you plan on it. Make a pact with your family that gives you one scheduled day off on a regular basis. It might be once a week, twice a month or even once a month – you set the schedule, but make sure they stick to it. It’s your time to pamper yourself. That will mean different things to different moms — you decide what you want to do that day. Some ideas:
Date night with your special someone
Let the kids make you breakfast in bed (supervised by Dad, or another adult family member)
Spend the afternoon lying on a hammock napping
Take some time away from the family doing whatever you want
Moms have stressful jobs, especially once school has started up again. From making 100 cupcakes overnight to learning math all over again, you have your hands full! Learn to decompress by making the most of your time, and get the most out of your life as a Mom.
*It can be hard on Dads, too — these tips also apply to all of you!