Three Ways a Mother Can Rest

As a busy mom of three my moments of “rest” are few and far between.  It doesn’t come naturally to be still among the daily routine of preparing meals, cleaning up said meals, breaking up fights, consoling boo-boos and all the chaos that comes with a 7, 5 and 2 year old.  My need for rest is palpable at times.  I hit a wall almost everyday (usually around 1:00pm) and my ability to keeping going comes to a giant halt.  This is as much to do with my activity as it is my body’s sleep needs.  By nature, I can be a low-energy person.  Early on in motherhood I learned I would never get through the day without following the old adage of “sleep when the baby sleeps.”  Wiser words have never been spoken.   We mothers (and all humans no matter what your daily role) truly need to rest.  For our bodies and our minds.  For our significant others.  For our children.  Because as restful mothers we are so much more patient with those we love.  Consider the following ways you can find “rest” within your hectic lives:

1. Take a nap.  No, I’m not kidding.  Allowing yourself a 15 minute afternoon catnap can do wonders as you finish the day.  How?  Where?  As a ninja napper, let me explain:  Doze off while sitting on a patio chair while the kids run around the backyard.  Lay on the sofa with them as they watch an afternoon television show.  Hell, put your head down on the table (a practice I perfected in high school English Lit) while they work on homework.  Take a snooze in the car during soccer practice! And on the weekends never, ever feel guilty about a longer version nap.  My grandmother used to actually get in bed under the covers to accomplish this on Sunday afternoons.  That generation knew what was up.
2. Go to bed early.  Ha!  You say.  I agree this is much easier said than done but doable once you get in the habit.  I am a night owl so this one is particularly hard for me. Recently though I realized watching the 9:30 showing of Family Feud was not doing helpful in any way.  While its nice to unwind at the end of a long day with some mindless TV, it can become incredibly boring and why be bored when I can sleep?!  Set a “go to bed” alarm on your phone 60 minutes before you really intend to.  If you want to be in bed by 10PM set it for 9:00.  This reminds you to wash your face and do all that nightly stuff plus allows time for you to read or stretch before hitting the hay.
3. Sleep In.  Another toughie.  But if you have a husband, partner, even a babysitter that can be on kid-duty two Saturdays a month at wake-up time plan with them the night before so you can snooze away. When our oldest was born, my husband and I had an unofficial agreement of taking turns with him each morning.  This helped each of us know when we got to refill our sleep tank and offered one-on-one time with the baby.  As kids grow and more are born this isn’t as special its just plain work but still beneficial to the adults in charge.

I know these ideas of how to achieve more rest are fairly obvious but the main point is not to feel guilty about doing them.  Mothers tend to take on more than we should or even realize we are doing.  Our bodies have been through enough — give them a break!