its hard work being a parent . whilst a father is important to children a mothers love is mandatory . especially in the infant years
its imprtant for mothers to be as stress free as possible. in todays modern society its not always easy. We have to learn to 
relax and not take the world upon our shoulders.
it doesnt help when people are being judjmental towards us such as issues like breast feeding in public
when we discipline our children in public and the general public start frowning or throwing comments towards us in a negative fashion
we need to save our energy for our children . sometimes we have to resisit the temptation to answer to comments.
having a healthy diet and plenty of water , cutting back on caffeine . going for walks with baby in the stroller., are just some ways of coping with stress.
without being paronoid we need to assess the situation. for example breast feeding is natural. are we doing it in ademure fashion? or are we so blaze about it?
discipline in public . are we trying to discipline our child in a fair manner? or are we just flying off the handle?
sometimes we react differently when we are tired and cranky to a situation and this so confuses our children.
try to take time out. take a few deep breaths. its amazing what a difference this could be count to ten backwards if you have to.
this helps diffuse the situation.
remember strangers are that !!! strangers whilst it is frustrating you most likely wont have to see them again .
years ago i remember being at a market stall and a lady was upset about being charged an extra dollar. i saw the incident and when i told her why doesnt she complain to him she said "im not going to let him ruin my day"
what a lovely attitude that was
i know at times you cannot ignore all incidences but "if you learn to let go of some" your stress levels would be less
i have tried to adopt this philosophy and i have found i am much happier in myself.
in turn this has helped me cope better with my children
in todays modern society our health is important and the way we handle things plays a big part . remember children do mimic a lot of things we grown ups do
when the children are in bed pamper yourself with a bath. use bath salts to relieve the tiredness. rub your body with oil or get your partner to give you a light massage.
drink warm milk before bed . dont drink coffeee or tea they both have caffeine
have soft music playing soothe easy listening music. if you have had a very stressfull day or are depressed have a cd or cassette play there are some great cds where you can hear the ocean or birds. close your eyes and block out everything. picure yourself running barefoot on the shore. the wet sand leaving imprints of your feet. feel the sun on your face . the wind in your hair picture your partner with you. he stops and touches your hair you both laugh and lie on the sand. even if you do this only for 10 minutes you will notice such a difference in how relaxed you feel.
you can only achieve this though if the children (especially if they are toddlers) are already asleep. you cannot achieve this if their are interuptions. try to strive for at least once a week . however the more times you can do this the better. it doesnt have to be the beach you can vary this depending on what you like.
remember even if it is winter and its cold if you can picture the sunyou will be surprised on how you will feel the warmth as if you were really out in the sun.
we adults sometimes waste our energy unnecessarily or we dont know how to recharge. or we say we dont have time. but sometimes its a matter of organizing our time better.
if(and im not being judgemental here) we have time to smoke or time for a chat with friends or time for tv and the list goes on then we can spare a few minutes to "recharge our batteries" try it and see what a difference it can make
i hope this is useful information to someone cheers annie
(February 24th) (
Lexi xxx
