How And Why You Should Make Self-Care A Priority As A Mom.

The title ‘mom’ in it carries a definition of an all-round responsible person, responsible for everyone. This includes cooking, helping with school assignments, advising, dressing kids, changing diapers, soothing crying babies, bonding with her kids, doing house chores, working, just to mention but a few. The responsibilities of any other female and a mum are in two different dimensions. They cannot be compared. Mums are often placed with the baggage of being responsible for each and every person in their surroundings. All these responsibilities make a mom almost always not have enough time to take care of herself. And this is the most crucial part of being a mom. You have to take care of yourself. Everyone wants a happy, fresh not-tired mom. And that can only be achieved by taking care of you. We are going to look at reasons why you should take care of yourself as a mom, and how you should do it.

Why you should take care of yourself, as a mom.

As a mom, the last thing that could come to your mind is taking care of yourself. This is brought about by the daily routines of constantly taking care of everyone else, but you. Truth is, you might not even realize and appreciate the need to take care of yourself. But all work and no play makes mom a dull girl. Taking a break and finding some alone time for yourself might prove to just be the perfect rejuvenation option, and here’s why:

It increases your productivity

Everybody needs a break from time to time. And this includes you mothers. However difficult it might seem to maneuver through the busy schedules and find time for you alone, it is very necessary. As a mom, being tired comes along with a lot of fatigue, and can carry along a lot of unproductivity especially when you are around your kids. Kids always want a mom who’s willing to play hide and seek with them, a mom who would chase them all over the house, and help them with puzzles, school assignments etc.

No kid wants a tired mom who just sits on the couch, and sleeps immediately after work and can’t do much with them, because they are tired. Sadly, this is the kind of mom that most kids receive. And we can’t entirely blame the mothers because, there’s not much that a tired mom can do.  And all this can be changed by just taking a little time out for yourself.

Taking time out for yourself isn’t being selfish

This is the real reason why sometimes, some mothers feel like they can’t take some time off to take care of themselves. They feel like they will be selfish if they do. Actually, this isn’t usually the case. Taking some time for self-care is not being selfish. Taking care of your own emotional, physical and mental well being isn’t just okay; it’s actually beneficial for your overall health. As mothers, you need to understand that you can’t give what you don’t have. All that mothers basically do is give, and if all you do is give until you can give no more, you are more inclined to experience burn out ,which will adversely affect your emotional ,physical and mental well-being which will be negatively translated to your kids. So, if the goal of not taking out time to take care of yourself is not to feel selfish and you do not give your kids the time they deserve, despite wanting to, then not taking out time is not the way to accomplish that.

Mom burn out is a fact-Research confirms

It has been researched and proven that the idea of moms avoiding taking care of themselves having a negative impact not only on the mom but also the kids is not just a theory. A study published in Clinical Psychological Science has established that when the daily stresses of parenting pile up, and moms don’t take breaks to breathe it results to something called parental burnout .This burn out causes moms to experience symptoms such as extreme exhaustion ;headaches ,stomachaches and emotional exhaustion which leads to harmful impacts such as parental neglect, physical and emotional distancing from your kids and possible parental violence.

It needs to be stated that not every mom who experiences burnouts will end up being violent or neglecting to your kids. But this is what emphasizes the importance of self-care. “Parenting is not an easy job and moms constantly need to recharge, and this is extremely beneficial for the kids,” study researcher Mikolajczack said.

It is totally understandable and very common for moms, especially new moms to consider their needs not important. But the truth is that taking care of yourself is as equally important as taking care of your kid.

Let’s now talk about how important self-care is to a mom, and how to prioritize and implement it. Even after reading and learning about how important self-care is to you as a mom, it might be a little bit difficult to find time out of your busy schedule, and even if you successfully find time, figuring out what exactly to do might turn out to be a hard task. If you figure out what to do, you might have some problems about how exactly to accomplish that. Well, no need to worry! Here are some tips on how you could possibly do that:

Saying No Is Okay

For moms, sometimes saying no to certain things may stir up negative critics, or may release some kind of negativity. So they tend to say yes to most things. You can start having time for yourself, by saying no to things you don’t particularly agree with, and especially things that are unnecessary. You can start by saying no to having visitors, or attending that unnecessary meeting. And instead, stay at home with your kids, watch your favorite show, play with your kids. And actually start saying yes to things that actually make you happy and things that you actually want to do.

Good enough is good

Parenting brings about a pressure of wanting to be that “perfect parent”. Well, there is nothing like being a perfect parent. Mistakes are going to be made, and you need to learn from those mistakes. Sometimes how we had planned to raise our kids is not exactly how we do it. And that’s okay. You don’t need to be perfect. No one needs you to be. They just need you to be the best you can be. And once you realize that, you are going to relieve yourself that extra pressure that you’ve put on yourself. And that will do a great deal in actually making you feel a little free. Have you fed your baby? Bathed him? Well that’s great! That’s good enough. Keep on doing the great work! Once you start looking at life from that angle, it becomes easier.

Everyone needs a helping hand

There’s no one who could survive without a helping hand. You’ll always need help with one thing or another. Especially mothers. They always need a helping hand with something. But sometimes, they do not ask for help. They want to do everything by themselves. They feel the need to do things by themselves. And sometimes it can be exhausting. So if you want to make self-care possible, ask for help. It might be difficult, but its necessatty. Ask a friend to watch your kid for an hour, ask your husband or partner. Make sure thay know and unserstand that parenting is a two-person job.

Let out your feelings

People and doctors will tell you that there is no good in keeping all your stress mounted up inside of you. It’s not good for you, or anyone else, especially your kids. It’s always good to sometimes let those feelings out, let your stress out. A problem half shared is a problem half solved. Find someone you trust to share your problems with. Relieve that extra baggage from within, and this will be a start of a great journey of being an amazing mom. Find that difficult aspect of parenting, talk about it and find a plan to get around it once and for all.

Stop feeling guilty

Once again, you must learn to let go of that guilt you feel after or before taking time out for yourself. This feeling will always be there, and it can be made worse by people who’ll tend to make you feel guilty for taking care of yourself. But you have to remember why you need that time, so don’t listen to them and focus more on those people, who are supportive of you, those who understand the struggles of parenthood.

Do what you love

Do not let anyone trick you into thinking that there’s a standing definition of a healthy self-care. Self care is basically doing what makes you feel relieved and recharged. This is basically doing what you love. There’s definitely something in your life, that you love to do, and you probably didn’t get enough time to be doing it. Well, this is the right time. During your self-care, take that time to actually do what you love. Be it writing, singing karaoke, painting, walking, driving, taking pictures etc. the list is endless. Experts have agreed and said that finding and doing something you actually love leaves you with a feeling of fulfillment, balanced, and the best of all, happy. A happy mom equals a happy child!

Look for a support system

Everyone needs to be supported. As a mum, to ensure that your self-care is fully done and accomplished, you might need to look for a support group that shares the same idea as you. And you should never have to make apologies to anyone for making yourself a priority. Instead of telling your kids, “I’m so sorry honey I’m going out,” say this instead, “guess what honey, mom’s going out and it’s going to be a lot of fun!” Ettus said.

Start small

There’s no need to make a big deal out of self-care. Just do it small. No need to go so big. Just squeeze some time. Even the busiest of the busiest moms can find some time. Just take a minute and stretch, or do a yoga from YouTube. Take a walk, take deep breaths. There is just a lot of things that you can do, that will actually prove to be refreshing and re-energizing.

It is evident that it is very important for you as a mother to take some time off for yourself.  It is beneficial to you, your kid and even the people you are involved with. Once you make self-care a part of your routine, then the other plans will just fall into place. You’ll have enough time for your kids, no more getting home tired, and no more parental burnouts. Its all about self-care. And making yourself a priority without feeling guilty about it.

How And Why You Should Make Self-Care A Priority As A Mom.