How can you best deal with that transition time when you arrive home after work? Well, first, make yourself a rule: leave work at work.
⢠Take a few extra minutes for yourself when you can. Linger at work or in the car or stretch your muscles in the car before coming in the door. Or take the long way home from work, stopping to sit in the park perhaps or visiting a friend briefly. If you take the bus, get off a stop or two before your regular one and walk home.
⢠Once home, how about a quick snack for the kids? Then, spend a few minutes alone in your room or, maybe, take a leisurely shower. Then you can get around to cooking dinner.
⢠Make appointments with children for special time together when you’re going to be rested and ready to give them your undivided attention. Be honest with your family; if you’re exhausted, just say so, and ask for the extra time alone or the extra help that will be needed.
⢠Shelf any issue that’s emotionally charged until you’re going to be able to deal with it. And then, see that everyone, even you, gets at least ten hugs every day.
Vicki Lansky’s practical, common sense approach to parenting is familiar to millions throughout the world. Vicki’s first book, Feed Me, I’m Yours, published in 1974, and still one of the most popular baby/toddler food cookbooks in the country, was followed by The Taming of the C.A.N.D.Y. Monster, a #1 New York Times bestseller. Her other titles include: Toilet Training, Birthday Parties Best Party Tips & Ideas For Ages 1-8, Dear Babysitter Handbook, Welcoming Your Second Baby, Getting Your Child to Sleep … and Back to Sleep, Trouble-free Travel with Children, Baby Proofing Basics and Games Babies Play From Birth to Twelve Months, Koko Bear’s New Potty, A New Baby at Koko Bear’s House, Koko Bear and the New Babysitter, and Koko Bear’s Big Earache. Vicki Lansky’s Divorce Book for Parents: Helping Children Cope with Divorce and Its Aftermath