COVID-19 has been a major interruption in everyone’s lives. As a parent, you try to manage your own frustrations and those that your children are experiencing. All too often, parents think only of their children and never of themselves. Doing this for a short time can be difficult but doing this long term can lead to empathy fatigue. Engaging in small amounts of self-care can be a helpful remedy to combat the emotional and physical toll all parents are currently experiencing. Self-care can be anything that you do intentionally and mindfully to love on yourself. For some this could be a nap, long walk, calling an old friend, or a treat. I understand that many would love to have the time for self-care. You can do small things for yourself, like five minutes of reading, or taking a moment to rub nice cream on your hands. Then make a plan to schedule bigger self-care experiences, like dinner at a friend’s house or having the kids spend the night with grandparents. If your child will be returning to school soon, I would encourage you to spend this day as a self-care day. Get the kids off to school and then take care of yourself!
When we engage in self-care, we are allowing ourselves to recharge so we can give our best to our families. Like we all hear when we fly (or used to fly), you must first put on your own oxygen mask before helping others. We must take care of ourselves so that we can pour into our families.
