Think your busy schedule is only running you ragged? The truth is, it may be affecting your family more than you know–even if you’re the only one who is busy. The old saying “no man is an island” couldn’t be more true for overworked moms. Here are four ways your busy schedule might be causing unintended consequences in your family.
Is Your Busy Schedule Affecting Your Children’s Behavior?
1. You Don’t Spend as Much Time With Your Children As You Should
Yes, your children will likely always want more attention than you could reasonably give them, and no, there is nothing wrong with letting your kids play by themselves for a while so you can work. If you are constantly telling your children “one more minute” or choosing work over them, however, they will feel neglected and they will start to act out to get your attention.
2. You Take the Easy Way Out When It’s Time to Discipline
When your children start to act up (as they inevitably will at times), you have a choice. You can put work aside for a minute, sit down with your children and discipline and instruct them properly. Or you can yell at them to stop what they are doing and go play somewhere else. Unfortunately, for many busy moms, the second happens far more often than we’d like to admit. Not only is this not fun for anyone, but since the issues aren’t resolved, they are more likely to pop up again in the future.
3. You’re Constantly Tired and Grouchy
When life, work and home responsibilities begin to pile up, taking the time to take care of your health is often one of the first things to go. This is unfortunate, because self-care is so important, not only for productivity, but also for being a good mom to your kids. When you are tired, you’re more likely to be grouchy and yell, which in turn only causes your kids to act up more.
4. You Don’t Really Know What Your Children are Up To
You have an idea what your kids are doing while you are working, but do you really? How many times have they broken something or made a huge mess that could have been avoided if you had been paying attention? What real issues are they struggling with in school or in life that you need to address but don’t know about? The truth is, you’ll never know until you take the time to find out.
Related: 4 Ways Your Busy Schedule Is Hurting Your Family
Please understand, this post is not intended to make you feel guilty or to add additional burdens to your already overloaded plate. Instead, it is to encourage you to take a good, hard look at your life and the way it has been going lately. You work hard for your family–but do you really? Or are you really just working hard at your family’s expense? If so, it may be time to make some positive changes.
I am a stay at home mom I am totally guilty of a couple if these. Not all the time but I have been lazy about discipline lately lol
@Cami, I think we tend to feel this way as moms at times! I have good days when it comes to paying attention to the kids, and then those days when I feel like I’m getting behind and need to catch up on all the things around me that need my attention! I have to remind myself often to take time during the day to give my full attention to my kids or they end up misbehaving and I lose my patience!
I really needed to read this article. I get grouchy sometimes. I need to learn to stay present. My biggest resolution for 2018 is to focus on self-care.
Self care is very important! I need to stay consistent with it to be the best mom that I can be! Consistency can be tough as a mom!