You’re snipping, yelling more, and you’re not enjoying even the usually fun parts of the day. Guess what. Stay at home mom burnout is real. Do you know how to cope?
Being an at home parent may be the most rewarding and important job you’ll ever have. But it’s HARD work and you’re not always going to see the rewards of all that effort so quickly.
You’re on call 24/7.
When you go on vacation, you still have the same responsibilities.
If you have a home business, or work at home job, life can be even more challenging.
Banish Stay at Home Mom Burnout
The first step to coping with stay at home mom burnout is preventing it in the first place!
Keep A Reasonable Schedule
Don’t overfill your schedule with activities for the kids or yourself.
I know how easy it is to feel like you’re not doing enough for your kids when you see other moms doing ALL THE THINGS.
If you’re forever tempted to keep up with your friends, neighbors, and family, maybe take a look at your social media habits and consider deleting Facebook or at least refrain from checking in so often.
Stop comparing yourself to others and maintain a schedule that makes sense for you and your family.
Take Time For Yourself
Go ahead and mark up that calendar to make yourself a priority!
You don’t need to be alone, but you do need to relax a little. Whether this may be during the kids’ naps or when they’re in school, even taking just a few minutes for you can really help.
Then, you can take advantage of the time to get things done with a clear head.
Keep Expectations In Check
Make sure your expectations and those of your family are realistic.
If you find that you’re falling victim of others being inconsiderate of your time as a stay at home mom, help them to understand this is no less a full time job than if you were to go into an office! Be ready to set boundaries.
If you’re running a home business or have a work at home job, keeping up with housework and cooking will look differently than that of a full time stay at home mom. You may have to pick a day to do the laundry, the vacuuming and other housework that doesn’t need to be done on a daily basis and leave it until then… unless the urgent need arises, of course.
You may even have to get vigilant with a housekeeping schedule and employ the assistance of your family by doling out chores!
Accept Your Emotions
When you’re in stay at home mom burnout mode, your emotions can really get crazy.
When you get angry, give yourself grace! This doesn’t make you an imperfect or bad parent.
We all get angry sometimes. What is more important is how you react to the anger.
Get Enough Sleep
The more tired you are, the more stress you are going to feel, and the harder it will be to cope with stay at home mom burnout.
If necessary, take a nap at the same time as the kids do. At least this way, you know they’re not getting into trouble for lack of supervision.
Get Out And Have Fun
Plan fun activities once in a while to relieve stress.
Depending on your needs and the needs of your family, this can be alone or with the entire family. Go to the beach, a park, zoo, mall, wherever it is you can relax and just have fun.
Meal Planning
Consider meal planning or even cooking meals and snacks in advance.
It’s easy to give your children healthy snacks if you have sliced vegetables and/or fruits ready to go in the fridge.
A few minutes’ work early in the week can save you time.
Meals may also be prepared in advance and frozen for those nights when you’re simply too tired to cook. Plan your meals for leftovers that will freeze well, and say goodbye to expensive frozen dinners from the grocery store.
If you’ve got something extra in the budget, consider using a meal planning website to help you with one extra step. Many of them will also help you by gathering your grocery list and transferring the data to a grocery delivery service.
If writing out your schedule helps you, then keep a written schedule. If it makes you feel overwhelmed, then don’t. Just because your best friend says it keeps her on schedule to have a calendar with everything she needs to do on it doesn’t mean the same will work for you.
Finally, don’t let other parents make you feel you owe them favors just because you’re at home and “have time.” You ARE doing a full time job taking care of your family, not just loafing. Your schedule may be just as full as theirs, if not more so.
You’ve got this mama!
