Checking In When You are Shut In
I’m feeling the need to check in with you!! How are you doing!?!? Are you checking in with yourself each day?!? I”m concerned for you all!!
We are a few days into a semi-quarantined state. COVID19 has landed on our globe. Kids are doing virtual school and will be home full time. We aren’t going out.
We aren’t going to sports.
I have to do my own grocery shopping and not order them to be delivered. (torture, am I right?!?)
I can’t hire a babysitter.
This is just like the difficult and sometimes miserable old days when I was a stay at home mom.
Yep, I said it.
THE OVERWHELM OF BEING AT HOME with kids can make you feel so much shame
Those were some really hard days. Kids at different developmental ages. Different personalities. Different preferences. Different health concerns. Different needs.
Meal time can be torture.
Chores and keeping up the house can be even worse.
I had felt so worn down and exhausted all while feeling the guilt of feeling like
“If I were truly a good mom, I would be loving this.”
“I should be feeling GRATEFUL, not everyone gets to stay home with their kids.”
Let’s cut the crap and acknowledge that we need tools to get through these days!
TAKE CARE OF YOU FIRST.
NOT LAST!! You won’t make it if you don’t teach your kids that you are a priority too. You will get out of the coronavirus quarantine or these years with littles at home and not be able to recognize yourself!! Here is a great checklist.
DO NOT TELL ME YOU CANNOT DO ANY OF THESE!!
Teach your kids and your husband how you need to be treated!
Tell them you HAVE TO DO SOME OF THESE!! It’s a non-negotiable. They will learn, you are human after all!! Screen shot and save in your “favorites” and set a reminder in your phone to look at it every day!!
(If you don’t know what I mean by some of these items, email me at hello@thewellteam.com! You may need a quick online coaching program. My programs are super inexpensive AND NECESSARY if you haven’t been doing anything for yourself!! I got you, girl! I WAS YOU!!)
Make a Plan
SET THE CLEAR EXPECTATIONS!!! I am so guilty of not communicating the plan to the kids. THEY ARE PEOPLE AND NEED to know what’s going on! Make a fun schedule for the day or week or month. KEY: DO IT WITH THE KIDS!! Get their input so they are excited!! Include age appropriate chores and have them each pick an activity so everyone gets buy in! (We are doing “Coronacation Team Schedule” and have done many “Summer of Fun” posterboards- when my kids were little we printed out pictures of all of their toys and activities.)
MAKE A MEAL PLAN- same idea- get buy in from all ages and decide who will help with tasks! Teach them that each meal doesn’t have to blow their mind with yumminess. FOOD IS FOR NUTRIENTS, NOT FUN!! Real food tastes so good, though- get them to learn about nutrition through the meal plan. Meals have to have all food groups and limit sugar to one thing a day!
GIVE INCENTIVES! Decide if you will give a fun activity or if it will be money and FOLLOW THROUGH!!! If it is tallies on a dry erase board or marbles in a jar they will see how the earn and lose based on behavior and attitudes! (KIDS LOVE TO COMPETE- teach them to do this IN LOVE!!!
SUPPORT EVERYONE’s EMOTIONS
If you have a plan for food and activities and household chores but aren’t allowing for emotions and attitudes then your plan is sure to fail. Take a moment to bond with each child one on one and use doTERRA’s KIDS COLLECTION to support their mind, body, and heart. Teach them to take care of themselves by you loving them, rubbing them, and kissing them with oils that support their body as a whole. Fill their “love tank” and watch the stress level and your mom guilt disappear.
I hope you are all staying well!
Please use your oils and if you don’t have any, reach out to me! We all need all of the tools we can get for physical and emotional wellness!!
Here is a song to play on repeat!!
MEET THE AUTHOR
Kari Turner Davis is a Holistic Life Coach and dōTERRA Essential Oils Educator. A dōTERRA Diamond leader, Kari is passionate about empowering women with the tools they need to reach financial freedom while educating moms to embrace the idea of a natural and non-toxic lifestyle. Kari and her husband, Bobby, live in Naples, Florida with their combined five children. They enjoy boating, spending time together as a family and creating an enjoyable lifestyle that revolves around filling up your tank to serve others in a higher capacity.