Here’s How To Ensure You Stay Yourself After Kids

Once you have kids, it might feel as though your whole life is now based entirely around your kids. But that’s not the case, nor does it have to feel this way. There are lots of ways that you can hold onto your ‘self’ after you become a parent. Here are some of the best options that we recommend. 

Focus On Your Hobbies

Once you have children it can be incredibly difficult to find time for yourself. Something you should think about is finding a hobby that you can do when you have a spare five minutes to yourself. This could be anything that you enjoy doing, from shopping to reading a book. People think that hobbies need to take all day, when in actual fact just a few minutes to yourself can make a world of difference. You might really enjoy playing online games such as solitaire or blackjack. 

Take Days For Yourself 

As well as finding hobbies that you enjoy doing, it is essential you take a break every so often. Life can be tricky and busy when you are trying to work and look after the house. You don’t want to suffer from any sort of burnout so think about how you can take a break. Maybe you have been invited to a spa day with your girlfriends, if this is the case then find childcare for your little ones. You will feel better when you get back home, well relaxed, and ready to face life once again. 

Think About Your Diet 

When you have children it can be tempting to grab food and go, rather than sitting down and enjoying home cooked food with them. While this is convenient it is never going to be any good for your health. Unfortunately, food to grab and go is often unhealthy junk food such as crisps or biscuits. If you try and make healthy swaps then it won’t be so bad for you, for example you can snack on carrot sticks. In an ideal world you will create meals that contain each of the basic food groups. These include carbohydrates, proteins, fats, dairy, fruits, and vegetables. 

Spend Time With Friends

As a parent, you may notice that a lot of your friends have disappeared. Unfortunately, if they don’t have kids themselves then they don’t want to hang around with you. However, if you attend parenting groups then you will make new friends, ones who understand you and everything you experience. Don’t hesitate to get their numbers and meet up with them when the kids are in bed or you have babysitters to hand. When your friends message you to ask if you want to go out, try and say yes. If you don’t have babysitters to hand then you could have your girlfriends around to your house. You can crack open a bottle of wine, discuss TV shows and the joys of parenting. 

Spend Time With Family

Family can be truly amazing when you have children. Your parents might still be around and want to see you and the grandkids all the time. If you are a close knit family then you will often see each other at random times of the year. Unlike other families who only gather around for special occasions such as thanksgiving or Christmas. You might have a group chat with your family so you can all keep each other updated with the latest goings on. 

Go On Date Nights

Another point to consider is date nights. Date nights are a great choice if you are interested in spending more quality time with your partner and you feel as though you haven’t been able to do this since you have had kids. Of course, it can be hard to find the time to go out but you can also have date nights in. You just need to focus on making it special with the right music, movies, or food. Make it special and you’ll be able to keep the romance alive. 

Hire Babysitters

You probably are wondering how you can spend time with different people without kids if you are a full time parent. The easiest answer is to use a babysitter. You might think that a babysitter is going to be too expensive. However, the good news is that you can find lots of different babysitters online so you can always find the right choice that is going to fit your budget well. When choosing a babysitter, make sure that you are thinking about referrals as well as reviews before settling on the right person to look after your kids. Of course, if you have an older child, you can also trust them to babysit. This is a great way to save money and ensure that you don’t have to worry about someone you don’t know looking after your children. 

Beauty Treatments

You might also want to focus on exploring different beauty treatments. This is a great way to focus on yourself and ensure that you are spending a little time on you rather than your kids. You might also want to think about exploring home beauty treatments rather than using professional support. If you are using professional support, then it can get quite expensive but home beauty treatments can deliver the same results. 

The trick is making sure that you are investing in the right products. This means that you can get the best possible results. Don’t forget, beauty treatments can also help ensure that you feel more relaxed and overall just at peace with yourself. 

Trips 

Another option worth thinking about is whether you should go on trips not necessarily with kids. You can still fly solo even when you have kids. It’s just a case of making sure that you find the right places that you want to travel. This could include longer trips with the girls or weekend getaways with your partner. This is perfectly fine as long as you make sure that you are still spending enough time with your kids. 

Counseling 

Next, you should think about exploring an option like counseling. This can be important for anyone but it can be particularly useful if you have kids because you can be more stressed than usual in your life. You may be struggling with problems that are deep rooted that could be affecting your parenting. There are lots of different counseling options including online counseling which is great if you are struggling to manage your stress and fit care into your very busy schedule. It might also help you if you get family therapy, you might not be the only one in the household with issues. 

Sleep

Finally, you should think about improving your sleep. If you struggle to get enough sleep, there are a wide range of possibilities that you can explore to improve things. For instance, you might want to think about upgrading your pillow, your mattress or even the entire bed. There are also possibilities that you can explore which will help you change your entire sleep environment for the better. For instance, you could add blackout blinds to your bedroom. This is a great choice if you are living a built up, urban environment. You might also want to think about focusing on how to relax before your head is ready to hit the pillow. 

We hope this helps you understand some of the key steps that you can take to ensure that you are holding onto yourself as a parent. It’s easy for it to feel as though your kids are now your life but with a few different steps you can keep things on the right track and ensure that you still feel like yourself.