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Unlock the secrets to managing family stress. This comprehensive guide offers practical tips and strategies for a happier, more connected family life.
by Sade Jenkins
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Welcome to our comprehensive guide on managing family stress and fostering family connection! Parenthood can often feel overwhelming, but with our helpful tips and strategies, you’ll learn how to create a harmonious and nurturing environment for your children.
From evaluating daily routines to implementing small changes, this article will provide you with practical methods to decrease family stress and increase family bonding. Join us as we explore the key techniques to prioritize family time and strengthen the connection within your household. Let’s unlock the secrets to a happier and more connected family life today!
Time To Evaluate
Take a moment to evaluate what is really happening within your household. This can be a hard question to answer at times, but it is the most important question to ask yourself.
During the week when the kids are coming in and out of the house asking questions and eating everything in sight, it can be easy to feel like you’re just going a million miles per hour. The best thing to do is to start writing things down at the end of the day. Even if you’re busy, you can use your phone to record everything that is happening to make it more time efficient.
To make the journaling process easy I want you to break your day down into parts.
What happened during the morning? What are your kids doing? How were they behaving? How did things go for you or your husband? When I got back home what happened and how did you feel? When my kids got home what happened and how did they feel? Around dinner time what happened?
Try your best to be detailed. Do this every day of the week to see what is really happening within your household. The recordings or written information doesn’t have to be super long, just detailed.
Asking questions like these will help you see things you usually wouldn’t notice within your household.
Out With The Old & In With The New
Everyone knows that Springtime means out with old and in with new. You start throwing out old clothes that no longer fit and dusting the windows. When everything is done the house feels like it has just been in the washer machine all day. Everyone has fully reached their own level of exhaustion but at the same time proud of the work that they’ve done.
This section of this article is exactly what we’re doing for your household. We’re cleaning out the small things that potentially have a big affect on how you or your family feels throughout the day.
Now break out those recordings and put them to work.
I want you to listen to everything that is being said. Don’t try to answer anything or edit it. Editing is a form of denial. Don’t try to make something sound different than what it truly sounds or looks like. For example, have you ever had a friend tell you a story from back in the day and each time they tell you the story, some how they sound better in it every time that it is told? By editing your recordings or journal entries, you are essentially doing the same thing.
I am sure you’re having a light bulb moment right now. Allow yourself to hear or read it fully, the way it actually happened so you can be open to working on it as family.
Allow yourself to sleep on this information before doing anything. The reason I am telling you this is so that you can have time to reflect on what you heard. Plus, it is very important to make big decisions when your thoughts and emotions are calm.
Things That Can Cause the Most Stress Within a Household Are:
Poor Time Management
This can cause issues quickly especially when you have kids who like to constantly add things to the daily or weekly schedule.
Quick Fix: Have everyone write down what things that they need to do, not want to do, on a large board in a location where everyone can see it. Each item needs to have a day and time. Go over the schedule as a family to see if anything needs to be moved to another day or week.
Bonus Quick Fix: Once the schedule has been made, do not add or take away from the schedule unless it is a huge emergency. This prevents miscommunication between anyone in the household and lowers the stress of calculating time for unplanned moments.
Poor Family Time
This can happen easily without realizing that it is happening within the home. I’ve learned personally that some things must be decisions that are prioritized and non-negotiable no matter what happens in the day.
Our kids operate off consistency. Family time isn’t just for the kids, it is for us parents as well. As a family, choose a day or a specific time in the week that you all will spend together. To make it fun, create a list of things that you all would enjoy doing together. Don’t over think this part. Kids are perfectly okay with throwing the ball outside. What counts is you being there and enjoying time together.
Poor Personal Time
We all know that life can be a bit much with all the household chores, work, kids and everything else that gets added to our list. To prevent burnout and stress you need time for yourself. I recommend listening to an audio book for a few minutes or waking up a little bit earlier to watch a show you enjoy. The point behind this is to have time that you look forward to, that is specifically dedicated to yourself. Remember, exhaustion isn’t just physical, it can be emotional and mental, too. So, take care of yourself by scheduling self-care into the schedule daily or weekly.
Household Chores
I know, surprising that household chores are a family stress, right! This can create arguments, slow down the day, and create mom guilt as well.
This common stressor is best fixed when the family does it together. That means that all the work doesn’t fall on one person, instead it falls on everyone.
Quick Fix: Go to the store and purchase a chore board. The chore board is a board that allows you to add colors, names and all the weekly chores that need to be done. This will be a game changer within your household. The great thing about this handy tool is that you can have fun by making goals as a family. These goals can lead to small rewards or large ones, like going to see a show together as a family unit. Make this a productive moment that still encourages and embraces family + fun.
The Takeaway
As parents, we know that there will always be family stress, energy depletion, difficult business days, increased anxiety, and more. The great thing about it all is that we can always add new things into our household lifestyle to make handling those moments easier. If you remember nothing from the methods that I just taught you for handling family stress, remember that parenthood is a journey. So, don’t be hard on yourself and embrace the beautiful process of learning through it.
Keep growing and glowing mamas!
