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Blog: Life Management
 POSITIVE RECONNECTION TIME
As you stumble into the house after a particularly busy day you need to keep a few pointers in mind to keep the peace under your roof. Now the following suggestion may take some discipline - on your part. Don't nag or criticize for the first hour after you get home. It may seem reasonable that older children should be able to have their homework finished and the house straightened by the time you get home, but you shouldn't expect everything to be done immediately.
The kids have been at school all day, which is hard work, and they feel the same way you do. Don't ruin what needs to be a positive reconnection by focusing on all the things they haven't done. Then, once you feel the children have settled down a little, don't forget to give yourself some relaxation time as well. This is the area many of us tend to neglect, but it is definitely possible - and necessary – to grab some soothing moments for ourselves, even at such a high-stress time of day. If all else fails, lock yourself into the bathroom change out of your work clothes, and read a magazine for 10 minutes before you forge ahead with dinner preparations. Or, leave the house and go for a quick walk around the block. If you write it on the Family Calendar – 6pm Mom goes for a walk – it becomes "official" and your children will learn to expect it.
One final idea to aid this reconnection time is to simplify dinner. Keep some no-fail super-simple supper recipes on hand for nights when everybody has had a rough day, and no one has energy for cooking. Regularity helps, too. If everybody knows that Monday is Pasta Night and Tuesday is Burger Night, you won't be faced with a lot of hard dinner decisions.
Keeping everybody happy and calm may be asking a lot when it's 5pm, but with a little advance planning, homecoming time doesn't have to mean desperation. Get out the snacks; give the kids a hug, and the repeat, "It's great to be home. It's great to be home."
posted on: 3/25/2008 12:00:00 PM by Judy Warmington
category: The Mental Side
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Life Management
by Judy Warmington
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About Judy:
Judy Warmington, Woman Time Management (owner) -- Busy wife, mother of three adult/married children, grandmother of 10 (5 boys and 5 girls!), former high school teacher (M.A. from W.M.U.), Speaker, Author, Radio Personality, and Trainer of Professional Organizers.
Judy's Website:
www.womantimemanagement.com
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