Feel Overwhelmed Mom? Try this Solution!
Inside: This article will help you relieve some of your stress, that you feel from being overwhelmed with all the responsibilities you have to take care of as a Mom!
So I follow a really cool bunch of Moms on Instagram.
Some of them like to do a lot of indoor and outdoor learning activities with their kids; some of them are Montessori moms; some of them are all about whole and real foods for their family; some are personally health nuts; and some of them are like me – who just let their children do what they’re doing, and do not want to control their experience!
Most of these moms are mom bloggers who are really passionate about their kids and who are vulnerable enough to show their everyday life and in turn inspire others with their lives.
But there is ONE THING that I see in all these different kinds of moms; at that is-
everybody’s picking their battles and no one is trying to do it all.
This is it; it’s the solution to overcome that ‘overwhelmed mom’ syndrome. Becuase the fact is when we try to do everything all together, we just keep running in circles, get frustrated and then drop the ball.
But it doesn’t have to be this way; we can still give every good habit and knowledge we wish to give our kids by doing it all step by step, so no one is overwhelmed neither you nor your kids.
I know “pick your battles” is a term usually used in terms of when to pick a battle with your child’s demands and when not to; but that’s not what I’m talking about.
I’m talking about picking your battles with your desire to do everything for your kids; everything should be done; but not all at once!
Related Read: To the exhausted mother…
So let me put this out first; none of these moms are doing anything wrong and everybody is doing their best; it’s all about priorities, different stages of life they are at and the understanding that everybody is at.
I’m not judging any of these moms I’m actually trying to find inspiration for myself and my readers so that it helps us to keep that calm in our lives and yet feel productive as the stay at home moms.
Okay, Back to the point.
How are these moms picking their battles?
When I say everybody’s picking their battles and not trying to do it all; this is what I mean —
I see moms who like to keep the kids engaged in activities and they’re not much worried about their children’s food choices.
I see other moms who focus on the Whole and Real foods for their kids and all their energy is spent on that, and they don’t focus upon what are their kids are doing to challenge themselves mentally and physically.
And the moms who are focused on making their kids independent or letting them just be; is slacking on other things in life like housework or personal care. (Like seriously, my house is mostly a mess because I don’t have the intention or strength to fix it. I do have some systems in place to keep everything manageable but it’s not perfect and I’m totally happy with everything.)
And then there are moms trying to find a balance in everything — so they’re organized, they have activities for the kids to do every day, they feed them fairly really healthy meals, go outdoors every day but they are not extremes in any of these so they let their kids watch TV, they let their kids not finish their healthy lunch, and stay in when they don’t feel up to it.
So I guess you get the point now — as moms we need to choose our battles, and let somethings go!
This brings me back to the article where I talked about how to be a calm mom — by prioritizing our parenting responsibilities and not comparing your kids to other children so that you don’t put unnecessary pressure on them and also you don’t put yourself into that fear of losing out.
This, “picking your battles” is kind of an extension of that article.
How am I going to get it all done, if I pick my battles?
When we pick our battles and not worry about those other things at the moment we gain sanity, because we’ll be doing things one step at a time!
So when we gain experience in one thing that we’re focusing on it becomes our second nature, very soon.
And once it becomes a second nature; we can focus on the other areas we want our kids to develop skills in.
So for example — if you want to focus on having your kids healthy meals because that’s your priority it’s OK to let your kids watch television or mess up the play area when preparing those healthy meals; and once you have a system in place to make healthy meals every day without putting much effort into the planning and execution of it; then you can focus on thinking about how to reduce that screen time for your kids.
The problem comes in when we try to do everything together!
Because then either we stress too much and don’t have energy left for ourselves, Or we get so frustrated with the kids that we start to blame them for not doing so and so things in spite of us putting all the efforts.
Or worst-case scenario we drop the ball altogether on everything and start to feel like a failure.
None of this has to be true if you prioritize on your parenting goals, pick our battles and don’t try to do it all together!
4 Comments
Love, love, love this message so much. I totally agree. I feel that it’s so important not to compare to other moms because they probably pick different battles than you do! I feel like screen time, nutrition, nap set up, and how much you entertain your children are four of the biggest ways I see mamas parent differently. You’ve got to do what works for you! Great post.
Thanks, Heather.
Some really wise words from you!
Those 4 really are the 4 different areas where everyone parents differently, so they’re a great opportunity to watch your thoughts if you feel uncomfortable with someone!
Great read. I definitely think picking your battles can lead to good things. Having your kid watch TV while you prepare a healthy meal is a perfect example of that. Not everyone can do everything at once, but we can work towards getting more done and being more balanced overall. But as we learn to do all these things, we have to let some things slide until we get those routines down. Like everything else in life, it takes time to find your rhythm, so don’t be discouraged by that, or worse start comparing yourself to others who can do more than you or do it differently.
Hey Sarah,
I’m so glad this resonated well with you. And it is so true that we all take time to find our rythm, and we must allow ourselves to do that.
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