Time Out For Moms

Writen by Marsha Maung

No matter how pleasurable, enjoyable and worthwhile you think motherhood is, there will be times when you just feel like peeling yourself away from the screaming, fighting, endless amount of work, cleaning, cooking, feeding, bathing and umpiring. There's no end and you're only human! Human and every human being's got a threshold for pain. As a mother, you have to find your threshold; recognize and acknowledge that threshold because if you don't, you're going to end up in the house of Loonies!

Just today, I was on the brink of just calling it quits! The kids have been throwing massive tantrums all day over nothing, refused to eat their food (which I have painfully prepared for them), refused to do their homework and everything was all over the place even after I've just picked them up. I felt like taking the car somewhere…ANYWHERE…just to get away. Not for a while…but forever. It was THAT bad.

That was when I realized that I was teetering dangerously on my threshold of pain…and yes, I ought to take car and go do something else. I probably should. And I did. And a world of good it did for me too, let me tell you this.

It was time out for mom.

This is what I recommend for mothers the world over to do.

TIME OUT EVERY DAY

The first thing we do in order to keep sane is to have a time out session for ourselves each day. Choose a time when the kids are not around or are occupied and use it as a time out for you. do something you really like…like reading for surfing the Internet. Anything that YOU like and have nothing to do with your kids or your spouse. The length of the time out session depends on your schedule, of course, but it can be anything between 15mins to 3 hours. Your call.

CALL SOMEBODY

Communication with the outside world is important and we need to reconnect with the rest of the world just to convince and remind ourselves that we're human beings and we're alive. We need to be in touch with the rest of the world because human beings do that! So, when you're feeling a little tired and helpless, call someone and just have a short chat. I know some of us may not have that many friends left after marriage and birth but you can call your contractor for a quick chat about the broken sink in the ground floor bath, if you want.

RELAX

When things get out of hand, remember to sit down, close your eyes, relax and completely focus your mind on breathing. Breathe in and out slowly and gently and actually feel your heart rate drop. If you are a Yoga fan, do it and recollect your thoughts.

Conclusion

Remember, when things get out of control and you ignore it, it won't go away. It just goes into hiding and builds up. One day, it's going to blow over and you're probably going to blame your kids and your family for it. Don't be ashamed of feeling weak and helpless because all of us feel that way once in a while. Motherhood is a tough job.

Marsha Maung is a freelance graphic designer and copy writer who works from her home in Selangor, Malaysia. She loves nothing more than blowing bubbles in the park with her 2 kids, Joshua and Jared. She designs apparel and premium items at http://www.allmomstuff.com and is the author of "Raising little magicians", and the popular "The Lance in freelancing". More information can be found at http://www.marshamaung.com