When you are a working and homeschooling parent, it's especially hard to make time for yourself to get rest. It's not about just your rest, but also about your family rest time.
HAVE A STANDARD RESTING HOUR
Plan to take a moment to be quiet, to sit and think, to nap. This is something we did a lot when our kids were all young. We had family nap time. Now, it's easy to forget to do that when kids are involved in activities outside the home. We have made it a point to do this weekly now. Usually, on the weekend, we have a set hour where we just nap or be quiet in our own spaces. It has kept us revitalized.
- Sneak in a power nap while taking kids to activities
- Do a family nap time daily
- Create a quiet space for yourself in the house
- Trade off a nap time with your spouse
- Let the kids know you need a nap too
- Let the kids sleep in
- Put them to bed early
MAKE SURE YOU GET AT LEAST 7 HOURS OF SLEEP
I prided myself on not requiring much sleep. I could keep going on 4 hours sleep each day for at least five days. However, when I started trying to lose weight, I found I only had success the weeks that I had at least 6 to 8 hours of rest. This was eye opening. Then I did research that validated my discovery. Parents need at least 6 to 8 hours, but our kids need more. Kids should have 9 to 10 hours sleep. So if your kid wants to sleep in all the time, let them, make up the work at other times, but for their health, let them rest.
WATCH FOR SIGNS FOR FATIGUE
This isn't just about the parents, we know when we are tired. Usually, we also need to think about the amount of coffee we are consuming. For kids, this is especially important. We need to be watchful of signs that they are tired. Older kids suffer from this just as much as younger ones. Many times my kids would stay up all night playing video games and can't seem to get up to be productive. It's because they needed rest. In those instances, I just let them rest, but locked up the video games the next few days to get them back on schedule.
SELF CARE
Remember, if you are going to be a working homeschooling parent, a wife, a parent, and all the other things we seem to take on, you deserve some self-care time. Schedule it in, make it a priority. It will be part of the reason that you can successfully keep doing it all.
What do you do to get rest?
