Ways to Reduce Stress at Home 

With love comes passion and passion comes in the form of arguments and conflicts very often. It’s a natural part of relationships and is key to bonding with and learning from one another. It’s how we develop and grow as individuals and as a family.

Whether it’s a bad report card, financial difficulties, or unexpected illness, it’s inevitable that at one point or other families will have to handle enormous stress. Those who are properly prepared for this will find these times easier to weather and will come out smiling on the other side!

Don’t Bring Your Stress Home 

You do a great job of staying even-tempered at work, but maybe when you walk in the front door you let that facade slip and indulge in your bad mood. Examine your behaviour after a long, demanding day and see if you’re raining on everyone’s parade at the end of it.

A great way to deal with this is to create some kind of ritual where you can decompress before you have to deal with anything. Stop at a coffee shop on your way home from work or go directly through to your study or office when you get home for a half-hour or so to get in the right headspace.

You could listen to music you love, do a spot of meditation, or even enjoy a little online Blackjack. Anything to draw a line between your home and work life.

Make a Point of Eating Together 

A family should eat together. Put time and effort into spending quality time with your partner and children and you’ll start seeing the benefits very quickly. Sure, some nights you’ll have ballet rehearsals or soccer practice to rush off to, others you’ll need to get to a parent-teacher practice. But on those evenings, you could have breakfast together instead.

Make meals a no-electronics zone and focus on really talking to one another and checking in with everybody. This time will smooth communication between you, your partner, and your children and will put you in a great position in terms of spotting stressors, halting unwanted behaviours, and instilling good manners.

Schedule Some Family Activities 

Family time doesn’t have to be an elaborate trip to a glitzy theme park or a grand outing every weekend. Set aside one day and one night every month that your family will spend together, doing whatever comes up. Maybe it’s a picnic in the park, a morning at the flea-market, or a cosy night in with pizza and a good movie! 

Share Tasks Fairly 

No one loves household chores, but they need to be done and equally dividing them up will keep everyone smiling. Whether it’s sweeping and mopping, taking out the rubbish, washing the dog, or raking the yard, when everyone’s pitching in there’s no risk of resentment building in just one person.

Chores are a great way to teach your children responsibility and pride, too. You’re more connected to a space you have had a hand in creating, no matter how small your contribution may be.

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