Stress Management Tips for Moms

Let’s Face it, every mom has had one of “those days”. The baby is fed and dry but very fussy, your child forgot to tell you about a science project that is due tomorrow and hands you a list of 10 things that you must get from the store, you forgot the roast in the oven and now it is dry and your husband just called to say that he is stuck at the office… again!

After a day like this, it can be very hard to keep your stress level low. With each passing minute you may feel your stress and irritability rising, your patience getting shorter and your fuse about to blow! Calgon Take Me Away!!

When you feel the need to escape and take a few minutes to yourself to de-stress, follow some (if not all) of the tips below.

Put yourself in time out: Allow some alone time for yourself. Use this time to focus on you. Find a place in your home that you can go to and find privacy. You can ask your partner or a friend to take the family out for a few hours while you enjoy your alone time. Do nothing, sleep, read, watch a movie, and just enjoy your solitude.

Call a Friend: Rather than yelling at your husband or your children, try picking up the phone and vent to a friend. Be sure not to vent AT her, but rather tell her about your day and get it all out. If she offers you some advice, listen and soak it in. This mini-time out session will leave you feeling heard, de-stressed and you will find that by the end of your call some of you anger will have dissipated.

Play: As adults, we sometimes forget the beneficial value of play. Play stimulates our imagination, encourages our creativity, boosts our energy, and best of all, it is fun. Try a game of tennis, a game of cards online or perhaps invite some friends over for an evening of adult board games.

Meditate: Meditation has been proven to reduce your blood pressure, and helps to dramatically reduce your stress level. Meditation and/or prayer will help you to keep in touch with your spiritual side. Meditation is a very effective method of relaxation. To meditate, quiet your mind and allow yourself to focus on one thing, such as your breath. Find a relaxed comfortable position where Try visualizing good health and peace as you inhale. While you are breathing out breathe out all of your stress. Set aside approximately 20 minutes for this exercise. Upon completion, you will see just how much more relaxed your mind and body is.

Take a nap: Find a quiet, comfortable spot and take a nap. Even a short power nap can leave you feeling refreshed, renewed, and more focused. Studies have shown that people who spent 30 minutes each day napping had one third less heart disease than those who didn’t nap.

Eat: Not just anything but certain things. Studies show that certain foods can help reduce stress. Carbohydrates will actually soothe you. Good sources of carbohydrates include rice, pasta, potatoes, breads, air-popped popcorn and low-calorie cookies. Experts suggest that the carbohydrates present in just one baked potato or a cup of spaghetti or white rice, is enough to relieve the anxiety of a stressful day.

Movie Time: If you don’t have anyone to watch the children for you while you de-stress. Put in one of their favorite movies, supply your children with a few healthy snacks, and have them occupy themselves for a little while so that you can take a breather.

Don’t feel guilty for taking time out to rejuvenate your mind and body. Being a mom is not an easy task and it is a full time job. Take a break when you need it and be sure to ask for help to keep the stress at bay.

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Aurelia Williams is the author of Journey To Joy, an inspiring eBook that explores many obstacles that women face. It also provides essential action steps, worksheets, resources and an hour long Balancing Your Life Audio.

Mothers need to learn that saying, “No,” as an adult is not rude. Rather, it is a sign of someone who is in control of her life and her schedule. She knows what she is capable of accomplishing and she is aware of her other commitments.

Here are a few ways to gain back control of your life, simply by learning how to say, “No” :

1. Be selective when choosing to volunteer your time. Being involved in your child’s school IS important but that does not mean you have to serve on every committee. Instead, choose one or two activities or committees that interest you and schedule that time on your planner.

2. Set limits on after-school activities. Sports teams or dance lessons are fun and help improve social skills but that does not mean your children have to be on a different team each season or take multiple lessons a week. Instead, teach your children how to choose activities that are most important to them and keep their focus on their studies.

3. Set boundaries with your clients. Your clients should not run your life. Instead, you should have a clear, working partnership in which each partner knows what is expected.
If you can still give your clients good customer service during set office hours, then do so. Chances are they would not want you calling during their family time so why should they interrupt during your family time?

4. Be honest about your skills. If you are not qualified to complete a particular project, whether it is a paid or volunteer project, be honest with your client and recommend someone with the right qualifications. Passing the job along to someone else who is qualified will show that you are in control of your schedule, you are honest about your skill level and you value the importance of the project by giving it to someone who can complete it properly.

5. Keep your calendar or planner up to date and use it. Schedule everything on one calendar, even exercise and family time, and keep it near the phone for easy reference when someone calls asking for a favor.

Before committing to anything, spend some quiet time with yourself and decide what things you want to be a part of and how much time you have in your days. Sometimes we must compromise so we can successfully balance our family, work and volunteer lives.

We live in such a fast paced world and finding ways to simplify your life can help to create a more relaxed and satisfying life for you and your family.

Simplicity involves freeing your time, money, and energy so that you can pay more attention to what is important to you.

Here are just a few tips on how to simplify your life:

1 - Control your time. Take a good hard look at your dialy schedule and then begin to tweak it so that it is more manageable. You may have to say “no” more often. It is amazing how cutting out just 1 activity a
week can provide more down time for yourself.

2 - Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. I know this is easier said than done, but learning to let things go once in awhile is key. So what if the house goes 1-2 days without getting vacuumed or the laundry is put on hold for an extra day. It is important to elieviate some stress that we put on ourselves to get ALL of those little things done at once.

3 - Get Help. If you get to the point where you are feeling overwhelmed with your personal and faimily obligations please get help. There are many places that offer babysitting swaps, you can hire a teenager to help with small cleaning tasks or go to a friend for support. Delegation of tasks is another way to get help. Be sure to use all of your resources and delegate some tasks out to others.

4 - Clear out the Clutter. I know you have heard this one before but I can’t stress it enough. Clearing out your clutter is a huge step in living a more simplified life. Make the time to go through your home and sell, donate, or throw out items that you no longer use. This is a large task, so don’t try to do it all in one day. Try to set a goal of doing some every week.

5 - Simplify your Meals. Start preparing dishes which will provide several meals. Stews, casseroles, and many other recipes are just as easy to prepare in large portions as they are to prepare in small portions. Meal planning is a money, sanity and time saver - what else could a busy person ask for? Learn how to create a great stree-free meal plan by reading this informative article on Meal Planning.

6 - Take Care of You. During the course of your day be sure to take out time to relax. Carve out at least 30 minutes a day to take a break, stretch or go for a short walk. Be sure that you are getting the proper amount of sleep so that you have the energy that you need to face each day.

Remember that your life is blessed with many different aspects. Keep them all in balance, and they will all be of much greater value to you.

I am seeing an increase in women that are searching for positive ways to manage their stress. Because of this, I decided to write down what I feel are the 1b est ways to deal with unhealthy stress.

These tips can be applied your life and all of your relationships as it pertains to school, work, family, your significant other and friends.

My hope is that you find positive ways to help manage all stress that you are dealing with.

1 - Manage Your Time Effectively: Keep a To Do list or daily planner and make sure to include time for yourself and time for stress reduction activities.

2 - Take a Break: Schedule several short breaks throughout your day to help minimize your stress. Get up and stretch, read a book, go for a walk or simply call a friend.

3 - Minimize Interruptions: When focusing on something important, make sure to block off a period of time when you can work without being disturbed or distracted.

4 - Eat Healthy Foods: Try to avoid foods high in fat, sugar and sodium. Be sure to snack on something healthy and do not skip meals because this will lower your energy levels.

5 - Exercise: Regular physical activity is one of the best ways to deal with stress. It releases endorphins and gives you a natural high. Try walking, bike riding or simply exercising in the comfort of your own home.

6 - Think Positively - Instead of focusing on negative thoughts, focus on the positive things in your life and say to yourself at least one positive thought each day.

7 - Learn to Say NO - Don’t feel guilty when you have to tell others no. Taking on additional projects or work for others when you are busy will only cause you more stress.

8 - Put Stressful Situations in Perspective - Will it matter a month from now? What about a year from now? Is it something that you can control? Ask yourself these questions when you are faced with a stressful situation.

9 - Get Enough Sleep: Studies show that most people need between 6-9 hours of sleep, but most people give up sleep when they are under stress to finish more work. Be sure to get the proper rest so that you can energize your mind, body and spirit.

10 - Find Someone to Talk to: Talking to your friends or family can help because it gives you a chance to express your feelings. However, problems in your social life or family life can be the hardest to talk about. If you feel like you can’t talk to your family or a friend, talk to someone outside the situation. This could be your priest or minister, a therapist, your family doctor or a coach.

Life is so busy and as mothers we spend so much time tending to the needs of others and pampering others that we sometimes neglect to pamper ourselves.

Here are 5 easy and fun ways to pamper yourself and nurture your mind, body and spirit:

1 - Wake up before the others in the house do. Flip through a magazine or simply sip on a hot cup of coffee or tea and enjoy a few uninterrupted moments before the day fully begins.

2 - Weather permitting, take a nice walk and just enjoy your surroundings. Take note of all the beauty that is surrounding you.

3 - Take short breaks during your day. Whether you are a stay at home mom, work at home mom or work outside of the home, try doing something for yourself periodically throughout the day. You can close your eyes and daydream, browse through the paper or simply have a short friendly chat with a friend.

4 - Treat yourself to a manicure, pedicure or even a new hairstyle. We often are so used to treating others that we forget to treat ourselves and forget to let others pamper us.

5 - Take a nice long warm bubble bath. Fill your mind and senses with a nice fragrance and just soak for as long as you can.

It is truly amazing at how pampering yourself will rejuvenate you!

Family meal planning is a wonderful technique that you can utilize and modify to fit your families needs. The idea behind this is simple. The principle of family meal planning is set up so that you cook and or prepare your meals ahead of time and then preserve them by either freezing or refrigerating them. Also, with family meal planning you can cook one large meal and get 2-3 other meals out of it!

The key here is to make every meal you cook count! When you are going to prepare a family favorite, double, triple, even quadruple the recipe if it will keep in the freezer.

Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Why not give yourself a much-needed break — cook ahead today so you can relax tomorrow!

The first step in family meal planning is always the most challenging. To make it less challenging I suggest that you grab the following supplies: Pen, paper, your personal recipe collection or your favorite cookbook and a comfortable chair.

Start by writing down a list of your favorite meals and plan on preparing a grocery list that will coincide with your list. Now, since we are talking bulk cooking here – if you normally would serve up one pot of spaghetti – plan to serve 2 (that would mean that you will have to double the recipe – so be sure to alter your shopping list accordingly) – It will take the same amount of time to cook – just a little extra planning is needed.

Next you can use a blank calendar and simply write the meals down on the day you will serve them. I personally post my meal plan up on my refrigerator for the entire house to see. This also helps to prompt me for the next day of meals that will be served.

The most important tool in meal planning and bulk cooking is your freezer. If you have a small freezer, don’t fret; you can fit many meals in that small freezer space – it will just call for a little more creativity on your part. With the use of freezer bags, that you can stack flat and the use of some freezer proof containers you will be surprised at how many meals your freezer can hold.

Here are a few essential and widely used meal planning techniques and tips:

Multi-recipes ~ Using this strategy requires you to cook many main course meals in one day. For instance, on a Sunday morning you could prepare a roast in your Crock pot, some spaghetti on top of the stove, a baked Chicken in the oven and perhaps a nice salad. You also could quarter and boil some potatoes, cook some rice and some veggies (either fresh or canned). What you now have is 5 different meals that you can use throughout the entire week. You can eat one of the meals that very evening and you could Freeze or refrigerate the rest. This technique works very well for some people and it provides a wide variety of dishes that you can use. I personally use this technique from time to time. I usually do my multi-recipe cooking on a Sunday and it can take up to 5 hrs to complete but what you are left with is 2 weeks worth of food that you can enjoy. And notice that the meals that I use in my Multi-recipe list are easy to prepare.

One Cook Wonder ~ With this strategy you would cook one main course recipe that can be used for different meals. For Instance, let’s say you just baked a large turkey. You could slice some of the turkey off and serve the breast with gravy, dice some of the turkey and prepare a turkey gumbo and use the rest for either a soup or turkey salad. Mind you, you do not have to prepare all of those meals on one day. After the Turkey has been cooked and cooled, you can freeze and refrigerate the turkey that you cut off the carcass and prepare your other Turkey related meals at a different time.

Quick and Easy meals ~ Be sure to incorporate those quick and easy meals into your planning process. If your family loves Sloppy Joes – cook up the sloppy joe meat in bulk and freeze it – then all you need to do is defrost the meat, grab some buns and viola.

What about Hamburger Helper? Why not cook 2-3 boxes of it, separate it into 3 separate large containers and freeze them. That idea alone allows you to prepare 3 meals in just 30-minutes.

Designate a meal for a particular night ~ Every Friday night in my house is either Pizza or burger night. The idea here is to choose any night of the week and just designate a meal to go with that night. I always make sure that I have plenty of Frozen Pizza’s with a variety of toppings on hand in my freezer. The same goes for those Turkey burger patties (my family doesn’t eat much ground beef). The idea behind this process is that you now have one night’s meal already planned. You can also stock up on that meal when the products are on sale. If you see Frozen pizza’s being sold in bulk, grab them up!

Love your leftovers ~ This is one of my favorite parts of meal planning as it allows you to use your imagination. At least every other week or so be sure to go through your refrigerator and take inventory of what you have in there. When you combine 2-3 leftovers, you may find that you have a meal right there. You can use left over pasta from spaghetti to prepare a pasta salad, leftover spaghetti sauce and just a few pieces of chicken can be a wonderful dish to top with cheese and place in the oven. Again, with a little imagination – you can make your leftovers work for you!

Use the sales paper ~ everyone loves a good sale and I use the sales paper to help me in my meal planning. When I see our Family favorites on sale – instead of buying one, I will purchase 3-4 of the same items and simply come home and prepare the meals or freeze the food that I purchased. My family and I love Chicken. When I spot whole chickens on sale I’ve been known to purchase up to 5-6 at a time. Keep in mind that I have a family of 6 and in my family of six; there are 3 teenagers (and you know how much they can consume). By shopping like this, I actually save hundreds and hundreds of dollars a year in food alone!

Helpful supplies

Labels/freezer bags/Freezer-proof containers: Be sure that you have all of your freezing and refrigerating needs on hand. When storing food in freezer safe containers be sure to place a label on the container with the name of the meal and the date the meal was prepared.

Crockpot: This handy appliance is my best friend in the kitchen. When using a crockpot you literally prepare the meal, place it in the crockpot, Set it & Forget it. It is a hands free cooking experience. I cook whole chickens in my crock pot and then slice the chicken up to freeze and use for sandwiches, enchilada’s, chicken salads, chicken soup, chicken stew.. as you can see – the possibilities are endless.

As you can see, family meal planning is a money, sanity and time saver – what else could a busy mom ask for? Now, let’s get Cookin’!

It’s stressful isn’t it? Having to get all those things ready, trying not to forget anything, not to mention bickering kids, tantrums about what to wear or the sleepy head who doesn’t want to wake up. No, the morning rush isn’t any fun but luckily there are a few time management tips you can exercise to bring peace back into your family’s morning routine.

Prepare Ahead – Sounds simple enough but did you know you could actually leave just about everything ready for the next day?

It might take a few extra minutes out of your evening but you’ll be much faster if you prepare everything once the kids are asleep rather than rushing in the morning. 
 
Lay out the kids clothes for the next day - Include things like hair clips, socks and shoes. And don’t forget to lay out your clothes too.

Leave breakfast ready (or nearly ready) - Depending on what you have for breakfast you can often pre-prepare a lot of it. If you have pancakes make the batter the night before and stick it in the fridge. If you have cereal and toast, leave the cereal out, bowls, spoons and bread. You can even set the table to save time.

Pre-Pack Lunch Boxes - If your kids take a packed lunch to school prepare it the night before. Most things like sandwiches will be fine left in the fridge overnight.

Pack Their School Bags – Look through their bags and make sure there aren’t any last minute dates or events you’ve overlooked. Pack all their books and things in their bags and leave everything by the front door.

Get The Kids Involved – The responsibility of getting the kids to school shouldn’t completely lie on your shoulders. As soon as children are old enough to help out then they should. Even the youngest of kids can help.

Make a Chart – If your kids (like most kids) are forgetful, make a chart for each one which explains in order all the things they need to do in the morning. You can draw pictures for the really young ones and write a description for the older ones. For example, you can have a picture of a toothbrush, then the school clothes, hair brush, etc.

Talk to your kids about the list beforehand and explain it to them. Then stick it up in a prominent place in their rooms and the next time they ask you “mom, what do I do know?” tell them to go look at their list. This is a great way of getting kids a little more involved and to start teaching them responsibility.

By preparing ahead you can’t avoid all of your family’s morning stresses but it will certainly help a lot, and who knows you may even have time for that extra cup of coffee.