Is your blood pressure rising? Are you feeling dizzy? Is your heart palpatating? Are you irritable and yelling? Is your family walking on eggshells around you because you are a ticking time bomb?
If your answer is yes, you must be a MOM, so do yourself a favor and take a "Mommy Time Out". Practice deep breathing! Get yourself a "family stress box" (???) Get one of those squeezie stress balls to squeeze! Stick your IPod on and listen to some relaxing music. Journal your feelings! Get better about predicting those "nightmare moments" (i.e. mornings with your kids) and do a better job preparing for them! Work off the stress by exercising (but you'll have to do it WITH your kids, since you have no time to yourself).
I love the Today Show's "mommy spots" because they are frequently focused on how to make the drudgery of motherhood more bearable.
Psst - Today Show: how about this idea for a spot on motherhood:
OPT OUT
OMG...just watching that clip stressed me out.
ReplyDeleteWith a full-time job and other family obligations (aging parents, relationships with siblings, in-laws, nieces and nephews) as well as a a house and wide variety of interests and hobbies, my life is PLENTY full.
This "intense parenting" is for the birds. Well, maybe not...the birds are too intelligent to fall into the peer pressure of participating in that racket. Seriously, why has parenting become a competitive sport? When did raising children become such a project? Sorry, but you really CAN'T have it all. Something's got to give.
It must be such a nightmare to wake up every morning to screaming children and a stressful life who won't stop until you are too old to truly enjoy life, if that ever happens! I wouldn't wish it to my worst enemy. I'll never understand why people in developed countries still fall into this trap. Isn't there enough information for us today to choose wisely?
ReplyDeletegood one-! yeah opt out! why is that never mentioned? i'm so glad i opted out! no regrets! as an elementary school teacher i saw how much trouble kids can be. and i decided even though i liked kids i didn't want any of my own. when my husband got his vasectomy we had to go for a session with the doctor first to make sure we understood what we were doing at our ages - me 29 & him 36--married one year. we told him we both thought parenthood was overrated. he agreed with us!
ReplyDeleteOh gods. I can't even fathom. I would rather go through two tax seasons than ever deal with a kid.
ReplyDeleteI think I'll send my doctor another box of chocolates to thank him for my tubal.
"Sorry, but you really CAN'T have it all. Something's got to give."
ReplyDeleteAMEN!
Sometimes I look around and I see that a few mothers are excellent task-managers and are great at "doing it all," but the VAST majority of mothers are tired, stressed-out, broken down, and failing at holding their lives together.
I was thinking the same thing when I was reading some of my mother in law's Christian womens' magazines. Almost all of them have several articles about how to make the horrible parts of parenting more bearable. I'm sorry, but why would I want to do something that constantly stresses me out, often frustrates me, and makes me want to pull my hair out every day? I'm so glad I'm sticking with dogs and cats.
ReplyDeleteSpectra
ReplyDeleteBecause it's SO WORTH IT!
;)
Oh mi gosh, ask your kids to describe you? Ask the ones who are making your life a nightmare to make you feel even worse? GREAT...
ReplyDeleteGlad I opted out :)
Ugh. My headache got worse, watching that clip. That sounds like a horrible way to live. People need to stop perpetuating this myth that women can have it all and be supermoms. It's just not possible, unless you want to work for 30 years straight and sleep when you're dead.
ReplyDeleteIt's ironic to me that the "do it all" moms often seem to think they're some kind of feminist hero because they hold down a job AND raise the kids. They don't see that they're unappreciated, taken for granted, and will be forever expected to do more more more. Yep, ladies, women are no longer being shat upon. They're shitting all over themselves. And they're proud of it! Oh, the accomplishment! Wasn't women's lib supposed to be about women having CHOICES? Choices, not everything off the buffet line of life until you're too big for your britches and your pants explode.
ReplyDeleteI think the big problem is, and this is not just with the mommies, is that everyone is looking around waiting for someone to tell them what the right thing to do is, what the right life path is. The lemmings are looking for someone to lead them straight off the cliff. Why not just choose the life that makes you happy??? Screw society. If you do what makes you happy, at least one person will be happy with your life and decisions. If you're chronically stressed out and frazzled, that should be a pretty good indication that things in your life are not really in line with what you internally value.
Shows like this just need a few small words. For example "if you choose to be a mom...."
ReplyDeleteThat's all I'm asking. Just the word "if."
It's interesting that these are specific anti-stress tips for mothers. You would think that they're pretty good tips for anyone in any stressful situation. Why not a general anti-stress expert talking to everyone and not just mothers?
What's the message here, if moms have very particular kinds of stress and need very specific ways to fight stress? Either motherhood is especially stressful, or the stress of motherhood is too often ignored.
It seems that they've left one option off the list - drinking booze that's especially for moms:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.mommyjuicewines.com/
Because nothing says total fullfilment like getting sauced to take a break from "the most important job in the world". *SMH*
Mandy - an interesting conversation going on in the comments of this blog post:
ReplyDeletehttp://joannagoddard.blogspot.com/2012/03/motherhood-mondays-one-reader-asks-im.html#more
The question is how to decide whether to become a mother. Some comments are sane, but too many are along the lines of, "you'll never regret becoming a mother, but you might regret not becoming a mother." Um... okay.
Possible fodder for a new post.
I sleep with my TV on and get woken up to the mom show bright and early. I feel sorry for the hosts because they cannot control the kids half the time and have irritated looks on their faces. They also cover the same topics on how to reduce stress (while rolling their eyes while the kids are tugging on them) and having suggesstions for getaways. Thought these were the people that love and promote being proud parents so why have 'suggestions' on mommy only days and getaways .
ReplyDeleteGlad I opted out
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ReplyDeleteBiotechnology