About: Aurelia
- Website
- http://reallifeguidance.com
- Bio
- I am a Certified Life Coach, author and Talk Radio Host who has always had a burning desire to help others. I myself am proof that it is possible to find balance in your life and with my coaching services and products, I share that with other women.
Author's Posts
Stress Reduction Tips For Working Mothers
June 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
For a working mom, their “work” day never really ends. They may go to work from 9-5 and come home, but they come home to more work. They have a family to feed and take care of and a house to keep in order. They never really have a chance to leave their work stress at the door when they come home to their family.
Since they’re constantly on the go, they find it hard to balance their work life with their family life. When the line between work and home can’t be seen, stress from one has free reign to the other. They start to realize that they don’t know if they’re coming or going anymore.
There are two types of working moms. Those that work outside of the home and those who work inside their home. Those that work outside the home tend to have more socializing opportunities, but they have less time for meeting the needs of their family.
The moms who work from their home tend to have more flexibility with their time, but they face long hours of isolation or having only children for company. They desire some adult conversation to keep them sane. Here are some tips to both types of working moms reduce stress, so they can get their life back:
Exercise- Exercise is not only good for your body, but also for your mind. It can be a good stress reliever. Try to work in some time into your work week for exercise. It helps to raise your heart rate which promotes good blood circulation and makes you feel good. It can also give you some alone time or time with a friend to chat about adult topics instead of things that interest children.
Recruit others for help-Utilize your friends and family to help you out. They can help you with babysitting, cleaning, organizing, painting or whatever you need. The extra hands can enable you to go out, get the house cleaned, or even just to take a much needed nap. The person, who said that it takes a village to raise a child, knew what they were talking about. Use others to your advantage. Get your children involved as well, in activities like cleaning to take some of the load off you.
Hire out for certain jobs. In some cases, your friends and family aren’t able to help you, so don’t be afraid to hire someone to help you out. It’s better to fork over a little money to a maid service or a babysitter than to drive yourself crazy with the added stress. The costs will be low, since you’ll use these services once in awhile versus all the time.
Establish work times-If you work outside of the home, then make sure your work doesn’t come with you to stay. If you’re off at 5, then stop your working gears and start your family gears until it’s time to go back to work. If you work at home, be sure to set your work times and stick to them. During work hours, your mind should be on work. Afterwards, your mind should be with your family.
Working part time- If the stress of working full time becomes too much for you to handle with the family life then consider cutting back to part time. Check your family’s budget and see if cuts can be made to allow you to cut your working hours. The stress of working too many hours while juggling home life isn’t worth your sanity if you can’t get extra help.
Working moms bring added income to the family, which is nice, but stress can make it seem not worth your time. Learning to reduce stress can help you keep your family life and work life in sync. A good balance of both in your life can make for a happier you.
Being a working mom can be extremely rewarding, but it’s challenging. Get the help you need with Real Life Guidance to Balancing Work and Family. It’s your practical guide to tracking your time, setting priorities, learning to say no and achieving that balance you strive for.
How To Help Your Teens To Become More Organized
June 21, 2008 | Leave a Comment
How To Help Your Teens To Become More Organized
Some would joke that the only way to motivate teens is to threaten or bribe them, well those may work but in the long run, they won’t teach your teen the valuable lesson of accountability {smile}.
As you know, teens never seem to lack motivation to do what they want to do — talk on the phone, meet up with friends, go to the movies, etc. But, when it comes down to getting them to do the things that we want them to do and the things that the need to do, that seems to be a different story.
Here are some tips that we as parents can use to help motivate our teens to become more organized.
Build your teens confidence by identifying the ways in which he or she is already organized. Everyone, including your teen, shows signs of being organized with some things. Teens love to be acknowledged for a job well done so if your child does a great job organizing his or her school work or his or her clothes, try to encourage them to apply those same organizational skills to the other areas in their life that can use some organizational help.
Teach them & Have fun. Perhaps your teen really doesn’t know where to begin! Socks here and there, books under the bed, clothes stuffed behind the hamper. All of this can seem like a battle for them that is useless to fight. Why not set up a date with your child to organize his/her space together. Turn on the radio (to their favorite station of course) and together work to de-clutter the space. Keep in mind that your organizational style my not work for them so ask them questions as you go along and try to help them figure out a way to organize things so that it is easy to keep up. Another fun way to get them motivated is to provide fun, funky and cool storage bins to use for those small items that seem to just collect in the corners of their rooms.
Set Clear Rules and Let them set the schedule: Be sure that you set clear rules as to what is allowable daily clutter and what isn’t. For instance, if you don’t allow food or dishes in your teen’s room, be sure that they are following those rules and respecting them. If shoes on the floor are OK, then let them know that as well. Teens need clear-cut rules to follow. Sit down with you teen and simply ask them “What day can you carve out at least 1 hr to do a full room cleaning?” and let your teen set a day (either weekly or biweekly). What this does is let them know you value their time and schedule and it makes them accountable.
Finally, be sure you reward and commend your teens organizing successes with either a small token of additional freedom or kind words. Keep in mind that being organized is all about being responsible. For a teenager, gaining trust and freedom from parents is one of the biggest motivations of all.
Want more tips on parenting your teenager? Visit Parenting My Teen. It provides free resources and a free podcast for parents.
The Importance of Family Time
June 19, 2008 | Leave a Comment
Whether we are working outside of the home or inside the home, it is becoming increasingly more difficult in the age of “instant communication” to take some TIME OUT for family. We have the cell phone, Blackberry, Instant Messaging, and the list goes on of ways that we can be contacted instantaneously. And in each of those moments our attention is diverted from whatever we were doing to give our attention to the “new” pressing issue.
Let’s face it; most of us take Family Time for granted. If you are working outside of the home, it is easy to let those precious few evening hours be taken up with phone calls, returning email, putting “final touches” on work related items, etc. If you are working in the home the distractions are similar; phone calls, volunteerism, housework, etc. The point is that working parents (both inside & outside the home) are letting outside influences take precedence over Family Time. Would we let having to stay an additional hour at work in order to send the CEO the sales figures for the 1st quarter have priority over our child’s ballet recital? Would we allow getting the last load of clothes laundered take precedence over singing “The Wheels on the Bus” (for the 100th time) with your toddler? Each of these things is important and depending upon our value system at the time any of these activities may or may not make it to your priority list. If you “schedule” the time, you may be able to get more “Family Time” than you thought.
Here are a few tips to finding more Family Time:
SCHEDULE IT! – Almost everyone has some system of remembering all the things that need to be done at work/home. Whether it is a Day-Timer, a Blackberry, a refrigerator calendar you have a way to keep track of the myriad of activities in your family. Family Time is a priority that you want to find time for so schedule it. In our home, Friday night from 6:30pm until the kids’ bedtime is Family Time. We all have to do an activity together. Each child gets a chance to choose what he/she would like to do for our Family Night and EVERYONE has to do it. This is a great way to get everyone together and you can find times in the midst of your time together to get to know what is happening in your child’s world in a relaxed setting. Some of the favorite activities at our house; the arcade, bowling, Scrabble tournaments, Uno, music concerts, and movies.
COMMIT TO IT! – It is easy to let phone calls, email, net surfing, etc. to take your attention away. Don’t let it! Turn the cell phone off, turn the computer off, turn the Blackberry off and truly give all of your attention to your family for your designated Family Time. Don’t let anything intrude on your time and your kids will see how much Family Time matters to you, how much they matter to you.
ENJOY IT! – If you are not accustomed to scheduling a block of Family Time, the prospect of spending a block of unstructured time could seem a little daunting. In order to ease into a comfortable time with your family, you might first want to schedule “activities” that take you out of the house. With activities, there is an opportunity to bond during the activity, but if there is a lull in communication it will be OK because you can focus on the activity.
Aurelia Williams is a certified life coach and author of Real Life Guidance: Finding More Family Time. Take the 1st step to finding more family time today.