How to Cope with Before-dinner Stress
January 30, 2009 | In: Family
Working parents often have to deal with the turmoil waiting for them at home. Instead of feeling relaxed, the pre-dinner chaos even causes stress. Here are some tips on how to make this time a more peaceful and enjoyable one:
1. Take ten or fifteen minutes at work to relax at the end of the day. Make sure that you leave the work-related issues and annoyances in the office. Don’t take them home with you.
2. Unwind. Instead of facing head-on dinner and interrogations about your kids’ day at school, try to calm yourself first by putting your feet up a bit and enjoy a glass of cold drink.
3. If you had an upsetting day, have a little alone time. Set the kids up with an activity (perhaps a 30 minute extra TV time?) and compose yourself a bit.
4. If money is not an issue, perhaps you can ask a sitter to sit an hour with the kids while you handle dinner preparations. If your spouse is at home, you can alternate being cook and childminder in the evenings.
5.Better yet, ask your kids and spouse to set the table and help with dinner preparations. This way, you won’t get stuck with most of the dirty work. You can also talk while working, saving time in the process.
Instead of viewing these pre-dinner rituals as chaos, treat them as more quality time you can spend with your family.
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