Stress management is to maintain a healthy well-being and be able to identify what triggers the stress. As with everyone else, working single parents need to manage their stress, not just for their sake but also for their childrens. They need to juggle personal time with family time as well as working with parenting.
We should also not forget that, like all other people, parents need rest physically, emotionally, and mentally to manage their stress better.
Here are the stress management tips that working parents can practice for:
Allotting Time
Set a time and day for yourself and your family
Within the limited time of 24 hours, single parents need to allocate their time, energy, and attention. Setting time for work, parenting, household chores, and personal self-care is to lessen the constraints of finishing one task after the other. With this, parents could spend hours of the day or days of the week to going with their children to have fun in a park or relaxing at home while watching some movies.
Support System
Ask for help from the people you trust the most
Having a support system would tremendously help the working single parent take care of the kids, particularly toddlers, and the house until the work shift is done. This system could be their family members, relatives, or even their trusted close friends. They are a reminder that working single parents are not alone in this journey because it takes a village to raise a child.
Creative Outlet
A family activity for a single parent and their child
When the stress accumulates over time and the parents are creative individuals, then having a creative outlet such as painting, drawing, or crafting is a good opportunity to improve their skills while spending time with their kids. Aside from single parents spending time with their children, it is a chance to get to know them better and teach them life lessons and values.
Journaling
Caption: Journaling is your quiet personal time
Some parents might not be comfortable with painting, drawing, or crafting but are into writing. Then journaling is one of the avenues to pursue. It is not just to let the stressful emotions flow out but also to let them see, in the long run, how they overcome the challenge of raising their kids while working at the same time. A chance to see their improvement as a parent, managing their stress, and handling each of their kids.
Work Arrangements
Negotiate with the employer for your work time
Working single parents should try to negotiate for flexible working time with the employer to balance work and life responsibilities. It is also to cater to unforeseen events within the family, such as the children’s healthcare emergencies. With flexible working time, the parents could do the household chores together with the kids and be able to watch over them at home more.
Children’s health and wellbeing are also as important as single parents’ work and responsibility. Although we should also not forget that, like all other people, parents need rest physically, emotionally, and mentally to manage their stress better.
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