Do you feel it too?
I’m talking about all of the PRESSURE that we parents face.
In just one day, here are SOME of the stressors or pressures that we face when it comes to raising our children:
- Getting them to school on time
- Making sure that our kids have breakfast, lunch, and dinner
- Our children getting that appropriate amount of sleep
- Making it to baseball practice
- Shuffling our children to and from various activities
- Dealing with homework
- Teaching our children important life lessons
- Doing the laundry
As I’ve been reflecting about our role as parents, it dawned on me that we do indeed put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to accomplish all of the things listed above, plus more! And not only do we put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to accomplish the above tasks, we put an immense amount of pressure on ourselves to accomplish those tasks perfectly.
“I need to respond perfectly to my child’s behavior.”
“Dinner needs to be ready and on the table ON TIME.”
“The house always needs to be picked up.”
When we see it in black and white, it kinda looks ridiculous, doesn’t it?! I mean, who with kids ALWAYS has their house picked up? What parent responds PERFECTLY to their child’s behavior all the time? Why is it so important to have dinner ready “on time?” What does ON TIME even mean as a parent?
If you ask me, this kind of talk needs to stop.
We spend so much time tossing and turning at night worrying about tiny little details that don’t even matter. We spend so much time noticing all the areas in which we messed up with our kids today that we fail to do what’s right and what’s best in the current moment. We spend so much time wishing our house was more organized or wishing that we were better parents or wishing that we could be just a little more patient with our kids.
We spend so much time thinking about our children, our spouses, and our families that we’ve failed to think about ourselves.
And it seems a bit unnatural to think about ourselves for once, doesn’t it?
Yet, we have lost sight of all that we are accomplishing as parents, day in and day out.
We forgot that we quickly sewed on three buttons this morning so that our 8-year-old could wear his favorite shirt to school. We forgot that we did an extra load of laundry last night so our child’s uniform would be ready to go for the game tonight. We forgot that we packed three lunches, made breakfast, and have dinner cooking in the crockpot so that those little mouths don’t go hungry.
We forget all of these things. And we think that they are insignificant moments to our days but they are not.
Sometimes I think the world puts these pressures on us but sometimes I think we put these pressures on us ourselves.
We lose sight that everything that we do in a day is AMAZING. We put out fires, prevent accidents, clean up messes, and wipe away tears on a daily basis. And we do so without even thinking twice.
Momma, you need a break. We all need a break.
Self-care, true self-care is important. I know this to be true yet I don’t give myself those needed breaks. I don’t give myself the PHYSICAL breaks I need, and I also don’t give myself the EMOTIONAL and MENTAL breaks that I need.
So how about pushing some of that pressure to the side, rearrange our thoughts surrounding all that we accomplish as parents, and give ourselves a real break.
A break for you may look like an afternoon at the spa or it may look like five or ten minutes journaling about your thoughts. Whatever your break is, take it. You DESERVE it, and you NEED it.
