Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Burnout Management for SAHMs

Read a great article on recognizing and counteracting burnout for SAHMs over at suite101.com's Stay At Home Parents page. Don't mind the "mums" by the way, you'll get used to it.

The author does provide some good ideas on how to deal with burnout. I particularly like the comments about reconnecting with family. I know that we have had to specifically make time for us after the kids have gone down. Who cares if the laundry needs to be folded?

There is one HUGE thing she did not mention, though. That's called "me time." I am a big proponent of my wife getting plenty of "me time." Whether it is time to go workout, take a cake decorating class (OK, so I benefit from that time too!), or taking some real time off for a girl's shopping weekend at the nearest outlet mall.

If a SAHM doesn't have any time away from the house and kids (and probably the husband too), she is never going to make it.

What do you do to stave off SAHM burnout?

4 comments:

  1. I scrapbook...either alone, or with friends, at least once a month out of the house. Hubby encourages me to have fun, get away from home, be with the gals, and come back happier. =)

    I also let myself, on rare occasions, days to just BE HOME but not do anything....heh! I play piano, read books, play online, or do whatever all day but don't clean a thing! And if it's only once in a great while, I don't feel guilty about it a bit.

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  2. I would have to agree with Amie about being at home without anything to do. Some of my most restoring times were when Keith would take the kids to KC for the weekend and let me have the house to myself. I would do all of the chores before he left so I could watch movies, scrapbook, sleep, anything that I wanted to do in my own house. However, the most important thing that you can do for any mom (in my mind) is allow them time to sleep uninterupted! A saturday morning here and there is wonderful!

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  3. Now that my two boys, ages 21 months and 5 years, are old enough to play together (to a certain extent), sometimes I throw my plans out the window and chill out while they play on their own. At the moment, the little munchkins are bouncing on a mattress (brand new, yikes!) in the basement playroom. And they are probably making a gigantic mess. But the chance for me to put my feet up and surf the Web uninterrupted is too good to pass up!

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  4. Some good information here
    http://www.suite101.com/content/pitfalls-and-challenges-of-being-an-at-home-parent-a336863

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