Raccoon Mamas at Play: Part II
We’ve been enjoying the comments and feedback we’ve received from our Raccoon Mama Part I blog entry. Seems as though more than a few of us find ourselves up until the wee hours. Most mothers we know have at least the occasional Raccoon Mom night, and some transform into a masked bandit every night.
We know other mamas, however, who have created some pretty strict household rules for the evening hours. They share that these have not only helped them stay healthy and have the energy they need for parenting, but also improved relationships with partners and more time for themselves to boot. Here are a few of their ideas:
Always have a candle burning and the lights dimmed at night. Even better, light the fireplace.
Never ever do any housework at night. Even if the house is a disaster. No sweeping, wiping, scrubbing, picking up, nothing..
Go to bed a half hour before you’re tired to snuggle and chat with your partner or talk with a friend on the phone.
Turn off the computer. Notice how powerful the temptation can be. Ignore it.
These ideas all seem so perfectly simple, really. Quiet night hours as playtime, nurturing time, together time. We know some of you are thinking, “But you don’t know how long my To Do list is…”
Babies have an interesting lesson for us here. Study of infant sleep patterns shows that sleep begets sleep. Basically, the more sleep they get, the better they sleep. So much for our attempts to put baby down to bed at 11 p.m. in hopes of a good night of sleep…
Same concept for busy mamas. The more time we set aside from our busy schedules for nurturing ourselves, the more space and energy we have for the To Do list. We see this over and over again. We step out of the routine to care for ourselves, and the routine becomes easier. The routine hasn’t changed, but we have.
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Do you have any rules for your evenings?
What would you like change?
