6 Tips for Staying Sane as a SAHM

If you’re a stay-at-home-mom, you are familiar with both the joys and the sorrows. You’ve probably sacrificed a lot to be at home with your kids and you don’t regret the time you’re spending with them – but as much as you love being their mommy, there are those days. Those are the days you just need a little break! So how do you do it? How do you keep your chin up even when monotony and/or insanity appear imminent? Consider these ideas for staying sane as a SAHM (stay-at-home-mom)!

1. Find an audio indulgence.

Your hands are never free, but your ears sometimes are. If you have access to a smartphone or other device, put it to good use while you do chores and play with the baby. Listen to something you want to learn about, hear advice on, or for pure entertainment. If you don’t have a device you can tote around the house, fold laundry in a room with a computer while you enjoy Ted Talks or informational videos on YouTube.

2. Take a Mommy break.

You’re working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You deserve to go out alone once in a while. Take yourself on a date, perhaps aiming to go once a month. Where’s the one place you never go because you don’t want to haul the kids in? What do you want to eat while no one is around to ask for bites? Treat yourself!

3. Create a mommy-morning.

Get up before anyone else. Start your day the way you want to – coffee, tea, exercise, meditation, reading… relax into it. By the time the kids get up, you will be ready to welcome them.

4. Develop a simple, flexible routine.

Choose a few things you and your children enjoy doing and incorporate them into the day. Go for a walk in the morning, read a book before naptime, take a bath in the evening. Simplicity is the key to making and keeping routines while remaining flexible for days when doctor visits, errands, or lunch dates disrupt them.

5. Fit in a hobby.

Quiet times are perfect times for moms to indulge in an interest. Try to keep it simple – if you can do just a little bit each day you will be able to create and learn even if you have interruptions. Even a five-minute instructional video can inspire you to keep going.

6. Phone a friend.

Everyone’s favorite lifeline is also a great preventative measure for insanity. Call someone who understands where you’re coming from and won’t pass judgment, but might have some good advice. Moms, sisters, and grandmas count too!

 

Kayla Lilly is a photographer, writer, wife, and mama making a house a home in eastern Idaho. She met her mister while working at an amusement park and married him a year later after deciding there was no way to live without him. The amusement has continued as they’ve added three kids and a passel of pets to their lives while finishing college and starting a photography business. Drawing inspiration from the whirlwinds of marriage, parenthood, and the media, Kayla blogs at www.utterlyinexperienced.blogspot.com, and spends the rest of her time chasing chickens, organizing junk drawers, diapering toddlers, and photographing everyone willing to step in front of her lens.

 

Featured image courtesy of Sunny Skyz.