Quote:
Originally Posted by sakura-panda
Now that I'm reconsiderng (and wondering why I am not the person in that video), I think that if I manage stress by having a little bit of time to myself everyday. It's difficult, because I'm the one that drops the kids off to daycare and everyone is home by the time I get there, but my husband is good at letting me go and take a few minutes after getting home before being bombarded by everybody. He works full time too, but he usually gives himself about an hour or so at home before he picks the kids up from daycare.
Lately I've been using that time to watch TV while folding clothes (or doing some other housekeeping) -- both things are a bit mindless, but doing one takes away the stress and guilt of doing the other.  I finished watching my recordings from last winter the week before the fall season started and am currently in the middle of my summer shows. 
Reading and my other hobbies (video games, tv, scrapbooking, knitting) are nighttime things that I try to do just before getting ready for bed. I do notice that if I don't fit at least a half hour of something at night, I later end up cranky and unreasonable. |
I had what I called "bar time" at one point. when we lived in Germany the second time, we only had one car for quite awhile. I would drop my husband off in the morning and pick him up at night. he was always a workaholic, so he was never ready. I got into the habit of waiting for him at the Officer's Club. when we were back in the states it occurred to me that period of time was really a diffuser for me so I insitituted "bar time". right after I would get home and deal with the immediate needs of the kids, and start dinner, I was "off limits" for an hour. I was there if the kids really did need me in an emergency, but they were to pretend I wasn't. I usually did actually have a glass of wine in that period of time and a friend would quite often come over. it made a BIG difference in transitioning from harassed employee to Mom