Achieving balance in your life is important. Whether you are a parent for the first time around, the second or the third finding time for everyone and everything can seem impossible. If you don’t find balance in your life, your stress levels will increase and overall you will begin to feel unwell. If you want to feel the best you can then making time for all the things you love is important. As a parent, most of your time is spent caring for your children and taking good care of them. You can still find time for you. Here are some tips on how and when to balance out your life.
Balancing Work
If you work from home or have decided to go back to work, then you will understand how tiring it can be. Working parents need to find time to work, be themselves, love their children and deal with all the household chores at home. The key to working and being a parent is to section your time, so you aren’t overtired or overworked.
You can cut down your work hours from full time to part time if full time is too much for you and part time work is an possible. You can change your area of work, location or even choose to work from home. The options are endless, but if you want to work, then there are ways you can do so and still be the best parent.
Balancing Family and Friends
As well as working and being a parent, friends and relatives will want attention. Try to set aside one evening for you and your partner to be alone together. Send the kids off to a babysitter or ask a friend to watch them for a couple of hours. Go for a meal or go to the cinema. Enjoying quality time together without children is important. Making time for parents, sisters, brothers and friends is also important. Try to set dates ahead of time to meet for coffee or grab some lunch together. Your parents will love to watch the little one so ask if they will watch your child while you catch up with your siblings.
Balancing Time For Yourself
More importantly and before work and family, you need to put yourself first. If you don’t feel happy, then no-one else at home will. To be a great parent, you need time for you and you alone. Take the chance when your child is at daycare to go to the salon and treat yourself to a manicure and a hairdo. Buy yourself some beautiful clothes and take time for you. Pamper yourself and don’t feel guilty about doing so. If you have one of those days where all you want to do is sleep ask your partner to watch your child while you sleep, shower and eat in peace. Use the time when your little one is in bed to relax and enjoy a glass of wine. You deserve time for yourself!
Balancing Your Home
Balancing household chores can seem difficult. Washing piles up, beds are unmade, toilets aren’t cleaned, and there will probably be a mess everywhere. This is normal, and you shouldn’t feel bad about it. Set aside a couple of hours every week to do an overall clean. If someone wants to help, then let them. Ask your partner to do the dishes while you hoover and soon you will find a routine which suits you.
Create Space For You
Creating a space for you at home is important. Children will take over, and there won’t be one room which is free of baby stuff. If you work from home, then have an office which is just yours. Create a relaxing bedroom space which is child free or even takes the closet under the stairs and makes it into a cozy space where you can escape too. If you want to stop your little one from entering your space, then use child safety gates. Consider having one of these baby gates to keep your baby safe. Your baby will love to play alone with his or her toys. You can also use a baby jumper to keep your baby active and develop his her muscles. Using these equipment can give you enough free time to take care of everything else and be confident of the safety and good care of your little baby.