Self Care for Parents

Prioritising Self Care is Key

January 1st 2025

I bet this is something that’s the last thing on your priorities list, and something that, if you were to indulge in, you would probably end up feeling guilty about it, UNLESS you truly understood just how important it is for the sake of your family and your sanity!! 

I'd like to to help you to understand why this is fundamental to become the kind of parent you set out to be. 

Think about before you begin an aeroplane flight, the flight attendants will go through an evacuation drill, where they tell you to put on your own oxygen mask before helping anyone else, the reason for is this is simple, how can you help anyone else if you can’t breathe?  

Let’s relate that to parenting .... How can you help anyone else when you are running on empty? I am sure many of you know how that feels, I know I have been there! So, we need to make sure that your fuel tank is always running on full, in order to give the best of yourself to others. This is why self-care should be right up there in your priorities list, and you should never feel guilty about that, please listen to me carefully here, you are doing it for the sake of your family, to be on top form to care for them. 

YOU ARE NOT BEING SELFISH. 

I will say this again 

YOU ARE NOT BEING SELFISH. 

A little bit of time out will actually make you fresher, better, and you appreciate each other so much more. I acknowledge it can be hard to get time out, depending on your situation at home, I found this very difficult to do when I was on my own with my children, as I didn’t have local family that could help out, but in times like this. I still made little things count as ‘me time’, I would do things for myself when the children were asleep, or if they had a school club. I would start off with things as simple as a nice, relaxing bath. Instead of rushing it, buying some special bath bombs, and listening to a podcast or something that made it relaxing, and feel like a treat. 

What I want you to do, is to get thinking of several treats you can do for yourself, that are manageable, and write a little treat list down. 

Be sure to ‘book in’ like an appointment in your diary one of your treats from your list on a regular basis, big treats could be once a month, and smaller treats should be weekly. You are acknowledging and celebrating what a great job you have done during the week, it’s important. If you have your diary on you now, start scheduling in some of the treats you have picked to get you started.

I hope you now agree just how important it is to take time for ourselves and prioritising self-care for the sake of our families, and that under no circumstances should you ever feel guilty about this. 

My wish for you is that you feel more confident in the knowledge that you are a great mum, you become even more present to your loved ones and value taking time for yourself without feeling guilty!