Why It’s Important To Look After Yourself as a Parent

Sarah Parker
Authored by Sarah Parker
Posted: Monday, November 12, 2018 - 18:06

Parenting is demanding. No matter what age your children are, parenting presents is own set of challenges. When you have babies, you are constantly in a routine of feeds and nappy changes, when they begin school you need to be there to support their learning at home as well as day to day caring, and when they are teenagers, you have hormones to deal with! Often, being a parent means that you put your needs last, but it is important to look after yourself too. Here’s why.

Your Health

Parenting takes energy, and when you are running around after your kids, it can leave you feeling tired. Being a tired parent is hard, so look after yourself by giving your body what it needs. That means eating a healthy diet, getting exercise, and restful sleep. That might sound difficult, but if you make it a priority, you will look and feel better, and have more energy to be the parent you want to be. When you look after your health, you are showing your children that it is important, helping them to grow a healthy mind-set that will stay with them into adulthood.

Stress

When you feel stressed, you take it out on those around you, even if you don’t realise you are doing it. Have you ever been short with your child because you are feeling anxious or irritable? When we are on edge, we are not the greatest role models for our kids, so make time for yourself to decompress. It might mean going for a run after work, so you get rid of any pent up emotions before spending time with your children, perhaps you would like to take a yoga class each week, or maybe you need to boost your confidence by sorting a problem that prevents you from feeling confident. If, for example you suffer from hair loss, you can find companies that specialise in hair transplant solutions such as Gethair.co.uk. Whatever it is, doing a little something for yourself helps to take care of your stress levels, so you can be your best self for your children.

Make Time For your Interests

When we are a parent, most of our energies are taken up by things in the home. But what is important to realise is that you need to nurture your interests outside of the home too, and have some time to yourself. If you don’t look after your interests, then you will feel unfulfilled. So, if you are interested in having a new career, then book that course you need to go on. If you’ve always wanted to salsa dance, try it out with a friend. Once you are looking after other things that interest you, you will feel happier as a person, and this will benefit how you care for your children

If you stop caring about yourself, it affects your ability to care for children. You are a role model that shows them how to act and what sort of person to be in the world. They learn from you, so if you show them that self-care is important, they will grow up to be people who look after themselves too. That might be one of the most important things that you do.