Moms – how do you decompress after work?
This week I decided to do a “Working Mom Wednesday” – that is, I wanted to focus on a topic that affects working moms. If you are a SAHM, that does NOT mean you are excluded in this. In fact, as a SAHM it is often harder to find ways to decompress, since there is no break.
Disclaimer aside, let’s get to the nitty gritty.
I just moved to a new state and landed a new teaching job (yay!). My commute is a whopping 7 minutes. SEVEN. My commute has NEVER, in my career as a working mom, been less than 45 minutes. To say that this is exciting would be an understatement.
I do have one small concern though. My last teaching job was about 15-20 minutes away from my kids school. This gave me 15-20 minutes to decompress. I could play music as loud as I wanted, listen to an audio book or, get this, have a few minutes of silence.
With my mini commute this time will be gone. And as excited as I am about the decreased aggravation of driving in traffic, I’m a little concerned.
I always looked at my drive to get the kids me time. While driving us all home (we lived about 45 minutes away from the school), I listened to audio books as they did the same. It gave all of us time to chill and unwind. Scratch that. It gave me time to listen to my story while my kids fought. But, if I turned the story up enough, the earbuds cancelled their fighting out, so it’s ok. LOL
So how will I decompress now?
I would LOVE to go to the gym after work, but I don’t want to take the extra hour out of my evening when I need to be home with them doing homework. On any given day, the ADHD can make homework take triple the time or more. I can’t in good conscience take that extra hour.
I’d love to buy a treadmill and may save for one – it’d be cheaper than the gym and since all I do is walk there right now anyway… but this is besides the point.
I will still listen to my audio books on my drive home, but then what? After dealing with students all day, having a little time between those kids and my kids makes a HUGE difference.
Now I will have to work even harder to find a way to destress myself. Somehow. LOL
So, here’s my question to you – how do you decompress after work? If you are a SAHM, how do you find ways to destress during the day? As always, leave it in the comments. 
September 1st, 2010 | Author: Alana Morales, Domestically Challenged
Posted in 
I go into my room and get online or watch the news for about 30 minutes. I can usually do that without being interrupted.
I hate to admit this, but for me it's sitting on the couch and watching TV. I know I know. On top of that I have allowed my kids to go to the playroom and watch Nick Jr. I feel like they need to decompress too. I know it should be about spending time together, but as much as I need to decompress so do they. Once school starts the routine will change dramatically, and I'm sure that homework will be on the menu after school, but for now that's what we do. During the drive home I'm aloways worried about picking them up on time, so that really doesn't allow me the time to decompress on my drive home.
There is nothing wrong with that!! Now, if you were sitting them in front of the tv while you were on a bender, THAT would be an issue. And I totally agree about kids needing to decompress too.
That is a great story – mind if I share it on my weekly recap? I do try to do the same – we call is "woosah" (from Bad Boys II). It doesn't always work, but I do try. Thanks for the story!!
Oh…see…notice I didn't mention the bathroom. If I go in there, my youngest WILL be at the door asking me something. LOL I think it helps that my kids are 10 and 13, and that my husband is pretty much self-sufficient. Praise the Lord!
I swear I have little to no time to decompress! It's non stop running for me! When I have time it's usually right before I go to bed and I tend to read as I lie in bed. If I have more time than that I get all scattered! I have no idea what to do even though I have like a billion choices!
I run. Not away necessarily but for exercise. And am running a 1/2 marathon is SF in OCT with an amazing group of women. So i have that for training inspiration.
And writing is a big outlet as well!
Good for you!! I have always wanted to be able to say i was a runner. LOL I think I am going to keep my gym time, even though I feel guilty about it.
That's not uncommon. At least you read at night. Just make sure you take that time for yourself!