Parent overwhelm is a thing these days.
While it’s likely that it’s always been a thing, I can’t help but feel like the pressure to do everything continues to rise. My sons are in first grade and preschool. My first grader is getting into sports. We have school and daycare drop off in the morning and pick up in the afternoon. My husband works a full-time job. I work a full-time job and I write on the side. I try to work out and train for half marathons regularly.
Throw in a side of meal planning, prepping, and cooking. Attempting to keep the house clean. Then add in a dessert of finding time for my husband and I to reconnect. There are too many things to do in a day most days of the week. And that’s not even bringing the insanely high bar social media sets for parenthood.
Every year my kids get older, the more they get involved in. And the more hectic our schedules get. It’s a real-life version of the classic children’s book, “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” Every time we agree to do something else, there is a ripple effect. The same goes for the opposite, every time we take something off the schedule, something else inevitably fills that slot.
I regret to admit I’m the worst at letting the overwhelm get to me. I like to do everything myself. I don’t like to ask for help in our normal day-to-day lives. Inevitably, the overwhelm continues to grow until I have a meltdown or give up completely and enter a vegetative state on the couch binge-watching Netflix.
There are easy ways to fix this. Planning and scheduling ahead. Including scheduling in downtime, for myself and my sons. Asking for help when I start feeling overwhelmed.
What do you do to prevent overwhelm?
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