Picture this. You are home all day with your children. They are small so it's hard to get out of the house. And it's also quite difficult. And time consuming, so it's easier to just stay home. But you are drowning in children. You hide in the bathroom so you can be alone for five minutes.
It's not super nice recharging your batteries in the same room with a toilet.
Toilets are necessary and useful and I thank God for indoor plumbing regularly, BUT - a solace in the tumult of raising children, no, the toilet is not where I want to turn.
We all need an opportunity to recharge our batteries. Lord knows we want to be nice. But sometimes we aren't nice. We shouldn't be martyrs when we homeschool our kids, especially if martyrdom makes you grumpy. I'm all about not leaving my kids when they're small, and often we are in a situation where we can't leave them, without family support, or husband's work situation.
We need to figure out ways to ensure that we get some time and perspective. Particularly when we are homeschooling and with our kids most of the time.
For years, I took Saturday mornings off. I'd go out for a couple of hours and (oh, the thrill!) grocery shop by myself. Imagine. Then I would go to a book store or out for coffee or while away an hour at a thrift store. Or The Bay. It was my time and I could just meander. If I had a baby, I just took the baby with me. Babies are hardly any bother at all compared to toddlers and kids who know that grocery stores are where you get STUFF. Gum and gummy bears.
Babies don't even care where you are as long as they are with you.
Getting out isn't the answer for everybody. We all have different ways of recharging. Hot bath. Walk outdoors. Martini in the closet. Staying up late at night when everyone else is asleep and doing the stuff we never get to do, like clean under the sink or bleach the stained clothing. Party on.
At any rate, I think the survival skill in preparing to have enough time to ourselves to recharge our batteries and be nice mamas is this:
Plan for it.
Whether it's staying up late, or going out Saturday mornings...whatever it is...plan ahead. Make it as regular as you can so that when you feel overwhelmed that you know some recharge time is coming. Make it a priority to take care of yourself. Spend some time, in the realm of the life you have chosen of motherhood, that is realistic and sensitive to the rest of your families needs, too.
Staying up until 3:00 am, if all else fails, once a week is not that bad. If that's what it takes.
It's a short season.
It's not super nice recharging your batteries in the same room with a toilet.
Toilets are necessary and useful and I thank God for indoor plumbing regularly, BUT - a solace in the tumult of raising children, no, the toilet is not where I want to turn.
We all need an opportunity to recharge our batteries. Lord knows we want to be nice. But sometimes we aren't nice. We shouldn't be martyrs when we homeschool our kids, especially if martyrdom makes you grumpy. I'm all about not leaving my kids when they're small, and often we are in a situation where we can't leave them, without family support, or husband's work situation.
We need to figure out ways to ensure that we get some time and perspective. Particularly when we are homeschooling and with our kids most of the time.
For years, I took Saturday mornings off. I'd go out for a couple of hours and (oh, the thrill!) grocery shop by myself. Imagine. Then I would go to a book store or out for coffee or while away an hour at a thrift store. Or The Bay. It was my time and I could just meander. If I had a baby, I just took the baby with me. Babies are hardly any bother at all compared to toddlers and kids who know that grocery stores are where you get STUFF. Gum and gummy bears.
Babies don't even care where you are as long as they are with you.
Getting out isn't the answer for everybody. We all have different ways of recharging. Hot bath. Walk outdoors. Martini in the closet. Staying up late at night when everyone else is asleep and doing the stuff we never get to do, like clean under the sink or bleach the stained clothing. Party on.
At any rate, I think the survival skill in preparing to have enough time to ourselves to recharge our batteries and be nice mamas is this:
Plan for it.
Whether it's staying up late, or going out Saturday mornings...whatever it is...plan ahead. Make it as regular as you can so that when you feel overwhelmed that you know some recharge time is coming. Make it a priority to take care of yourself. Spend some time, in the realm of the life you have chosen of motherhood, that is realistic and sensitive to the rest of your families needs, too.
Staying up until 3:00 am, if all else fails, once a week is not that bad. If that's what it takes.
It's a short season.