Give Yourself a Break - You Can't Do It All

Work, cooking meals, homework, laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping; the list goes on and some days seems like it will never end. This does not even include any extra projects that may come up.

The pressure that we put on ourselves to accomplish "everything" is unrealistic. Somewhere along the way from childhood to adulthood we came to believe that we must complete all these tasks every day. Much of it is learned behavior from watching our parents.

What we neglect to take into consideration are the many ways things have changed over the past couple of generations. We need to look back to understand why our grandparents, and even some of our parents, were able to do some of what we cannot reasonably accomplish in our day.

When our grandparents came into adulthood and were raising children, our grandmothers usually did not work outside the home. Their work was taking care of the house and raising the children. They cooked, cleaned, shopped, helped with homework, and strived to create a loving and safe home for their family. Our grandfathers worked to financially provide for their family.

In our parent's time many women stayed home much like their mothers, and fathers were still financial providers. As we were growing into teens and young adults some of these roles were starting to change as women wanted their own identity and financial resources.

When we became the adults, the ones to start families, our roles changed drastically. It was a given that women would work outside the home mostly out of financial need, or for some the desire for more. When this took place, their income helped sustain the family, but there was still the expectation that women would continue doing the household chores and child rearing. And we did because that is what we learned growing up.

Unfortunately, things have become even more difficult for our children. Staying home with children is rarely an option today. It takes far more money to survive, and for many they are the only one bringing in a paycheck as a single parent. On top of this they pressure themselves to do all the things they learned they "should" from their parents and grandparents.

This cycle needs to end. We need to let our grandchildren know there are things much more important. You need to give yourself a break so they can learn something new; how to have a healthy balanced life.

So...do what needs to be done and let the rest go. Enjoy some quiet time or play and laugh with your children. Everything will eventually get accomplished, and if not then it really did not need to be done. In the meantime, you get a break, and they learn a better way to approach each day.