It’s no secret that parenting can bring on a whole lot of feelings (and often, in a single day!). Sometimes we can feel so proud and excited for our kids and their accomplishments. Other times, we step on that dang lego and it’s enough to make us lose our cool and count down the hours until bedtime. It’s usually towards the end of the day when we’re feeling the effects of a long day–but what if we told you that you don’t have to feel overstimulated while parenting?
Yes, it’s possible. And, it only adds two items to your to-do list. Though, we’d argue that they’re pretty important, given what we know about pouring from our own cups. Albiona from The Parenting Post is here with some quick ideas to help you feel more at ease. A serene, non-overstimulated mama is a happy mama. So keep reading to discover exactly what you can do tonight to feel less overstimulated while parenting.
How do we parent when we’re feeling overstimulated?
I think often, a lot of parents don’t even recognize that they’re overstimulated. They just know that things are upsetting them more than normal, or they’re feeling more irritated, etc. However, there are a lot of things we can put into place that really can help bring us back down, and grounded, and back into our body–and less overstimulated by our surroundings.
When you are a parent of young children, you typically live in a pretty noisy environment. And often when we think of all of our senses, it’s not that it’s just noisy; it can be cluttered, it can be messy, it can be things that we’re stepping on when we’re walking . . . it’s almost like when you can feel that buzzing in your ear, and you just can’t find your footing. And it can all start to feel a little bit too overwhelming.
When my kids were younger, I worked with children all day. Then I’d come home to more noise from my own kids. And I remember when I would put my kids to bed, there was this feeling that I almost couldn’t put a name to. I felt very exhausted, and I didn’t want to even think about or look at anything. I didn’t want to physically attract any attention to something that would ignite or engage my sensory system.
If you can relate to this, I have two simple things you can do to immediately begin to feel less overstimulated while parenting–and more like yourself again.
1. Create a quiet space.
First, create some quiet. I used to come downstairs after my kids were asleep and shut everything off. I would even lower the lights. So no TV, no sounds, no bright lighting. The quiet space that I created within my home almost immediately turned my sensory system dial all the way back down. And it was amazing.
How can you do this? Recognize what in your space is becoming too much. Then, think about when you can carve out moments in your day where you can really dial it down. Maybe it’s when your kids are asleep. Sometimes we go to our phone and start to scroll, or we watch a show, and those things are fine if they help you decompress.
But for me, I found that I had to disengage from all of those things. I had to completely turn everything off. Something about the stillness, and the reduced volume, allowed my mind to steady and calm down. I could even start to hear my own thoughts again. There was just something incredibly grounding about that stillness.
Even standing outside for a few minutes and breathing in the cool evening air can feel really grounding and helpful. Whatever you can do to quiet your surroundings is going to be your best bet.
Reduce the clutter.
Secondly, try to minimize what jumps out at you as being overstimulating. If you’re somebody where visually it all starts to become too much, what can you remove? Where can you put some systems in place that can really help with that?
One example is to rotate toys. By doing so, you’re not constantly consuming toy after toy, and you’re reducing the stuff around you and actually eliciting better play skills for your kids, too. It’s really the idea of “less is more,” and teaching your kids how to engage and play thoughtfully with their toys for an extended period of time.
Another example is to come up with a system for organizing mail, documents, papers from school and work, etc. Try not to let these things clutter up your counter tops. Instead, sort them as they come in, eliminate the piles, and remember that feeling less overstimulated can happen one piece of paper at a time.
These are two simple steps that can make a world of a difference for you. Sometimes it’s nice to start your day this way too, if you have the time in the morning. Really recognize what it feels and looks like to be overstimulated. Are you always saying, “No, I’m fine, everything’s fine, everything’s great,” and then finding yourself feeling really cranky at the end of the day? When we can dampen some of that stuff going on around us that’s causing our sensory system to stay really engaged and working, it does start to help all those other parts of our body, especially our nervous system. Feeling less overstimulated while parenting is possible–so take those two steps and you’ll be on your way to feeling more grounded in no time.
