Help for Tired Moms…

Here is some food for thought as you struggle with going back work.

1. Recognize that sometimes husbands and wives don’t have the same reactions to a newborn baby. Husbands can wrestle with the financial burdens and/or the intrusion of the newest family member. Wives, by contrast, universally struggle with fatigue.

2. Realize that extended family members aren’t as available as they used to be. Organizations like “Moms Day Out” (MDO) have helped provide some help especially if you’ve gone back to work part-time or hours are flexible.

3. Economic realities have made the need for additional income necessary. Avoid feeling guilty about it. Sometimes the guilt even stems from church, with messages from the pulpit that only the husband should be working outside the home. Of course single parents don’t have a choice in this. (studies have actually shown that adolescents who’s mothers work outside the home have more self-confidence than those who’s mother are at home all the time.)

4. Determine who or what is making the demands on you. Are there factors there that need to be addressed? Maybe a complex or expensive lifestyle is adding to your fatigue. Simplifying both the schedule and/or the financial obligations will challenge the notions of bigger and better as being best. Too many families are living over their heads financially.

5. One more reality is that studies have shown that women who work outside the home also continue to do most of the household work. If both are working outside the home, both should share home duties too. Fortunately many husbands are starting to realize how helpful this is in helping the fatigued factor. This is best achieved by the husbands seeing the need and offering to help. It will make a world of difference.

6. Finally, husbands encourage your wife to find something fulfilling. The goal is not to just bringing in more money but to provide an opportunity for her to use gifts that God built into her that are also marketable. Children do take pride in their parents accomplishments.