Welcome to The Ready Room, where I explore random topics to help you kick off your week.
This past week in my household has been especially trying. I have four kids, thankfully only two of which live at home. But this week my six-year-old has taken her stubbornness and fight-picking to a whole new level of evil, and my three-year-old has hit that magical phase of childhood where all he wants is to cling and hug and paw at his mommy. No one else, just me.
Those who have gotten to know the real me understand that I’m not a hugger. At all. So with one child picking fights with me all week and the other clinging to my leg, it may be easy to conclude I’m ready to be at least a hundred miles from the closest person.
Time for some self care, right?
Any time someone says I need to take time for myself, or I read it in an article, I laugh to keep from crying. While I understand the importance of self care, it’s not an option for everyone. Taking five minutes away from the chaos of my household to breathe means when I step back in, there’s a spill on the floor, something’s broken, and my son is probably on top of the fridge. Thus starts another round of arguments with my daughter, who will invariably try to tell me how to do my job, or order me to make her life easier while her brother wrecks the next thing in his line of sight. Obviously this never ends well for anyone.
It also means another half hour of cleaning up messes, while my son’s either climbing the next piece of furniture or elbow deep in the fish tank.
This morning I’ve been trying for nearly four hours to punch out a Ready Room article. But winter’s swooped in again, the kids are tired and fussy, and the only thing I’ve accomplished this morning is making a pot of coffee.
So, I’m giving myself the day off.
While I wish this meant I could crawl back in bed and sleep the day away, in parent terms it’s me giving myself a break from tasks that don’t need to be done. I still have laundry, meals, cleaning, a shower, and pulling my son off the dryer at least half a dozen times, but everything else can be let go for the day.
To all the people who write between wrangling children, or between those dreaded high school and college finals… I feel you. I get it. Don’t forget to take a day off now and then, even if it’s only taking time away from a task that doesn’t have a deadline, or giving yourself a treat now and then.
You matter, too.
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