With all the demands of working in or outside the home, moms might confuse self-care with selfishness. They might believe that taking any extra time for themselves takes quality time away from their family. However, self-care is taking responsibility for your health and well-being. If you don’t take care of yourself, who will? The following are some tips to help moms be well and enjoy each stage of parenting.
New Baby Stress
Whether it’s your first child, second or even third, what seems like an exciting time can also be exhausting. Taking cues from your baby on how to best respond can be challenging at times. When stressed, your body requires more oxygen for energy. Research shows that during meditation your body’s oxygen consumption is reduced — even more than when you sleep. Taking just five minutes to sit, mindfully breathe or focus on gratitude can rejuvenate your body, mind and spirit. A practical time for meditation or to sleep is when your child is taking a nap.
Toddler and Preschooler Time Out
At this stage, your children are walking and talking, along with learning from you how to take care of themselves. They mimic the practice of eating, dressing, bathing and other life skills. Also, children are taking in subtle messages about your beliefs in self-care related to rest, fun and “mommy time.”
Parents can meditate daily and institute a “quiet time” for 30 minutes. Have your children play, look at books or listen to audiobooks. This teaches them to entertain and quiet themselves, and helps them recognize that parents need time too.
The Tween-Teen Years
Just because moms are grown up doesn’t mean they no longer need to play and have fun. Including relaxation and fun in your day creates life balance, improves your perspective and can be healing. Making time to let off steam and relax will help you keep your sense of humor as your children enter their tweens and teens.
At this stage of parenting, wouldn’t you like to respond to challenging situations with greater clarity, good perspective and tolerance? Research suggests people are more tolerant, less reactive and make better decisions when they regularly practice stress management tools.
Over the course of a few weeks, you can re-wire your brain for greater responsiveness and positivity. First, take a few minutes for yourself before your household starts the day, or take a “break” or “mommy time” at the end of the day. There are easy-to-use stress-relief tools, which include focused breathing practices, mindfulness meditation, guided imagery, yoga and even prayer.
You may think that social media and other Internet activities are good ways to relax. However, frequent use of screens, such as phones, tablets and other devices, is numbing, and the light emitted interferes with sleep.
There are a variety of programs and classes to help you learn the tools to be well and enjoy your role as a mom.
Jane Pernotto Ehrman is a behavioral health specialist for Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Lifestyle Medicine, Wellness Institute. The Wellness Institute offers a variety of programs and classes. Visit myclevelandclinic.org/wellness or clevelandclinicwellness.com.
