Strive for Balance in Your Personal and Family Life

The Eight Principles : Strive for Balance in Your Personal and Family Life

Striving for Balance involves ensuring that everyone's needs -- not just the child's -- are recognized, validated, and met to the greatest extent possible. In an ideal world, every family member's needs are met all the time, everyone is happy and healthy, and the family is perfectly in balance. In the real world, nobody's family life is perfectly balanced all the time. It is not unusual for parents to feel out of balance at times. Parents who practice AP continuously look for creative ways to find balance in their personal and family life.

Balance is the Foundation Upon Which Attachment Grows

When in balance, family members are more able to be emotionally responsive

The best defense for feeling isolated is to look outward to create a support network in the local community

The child's needs must be a priority, and the younger the child, the more intense and immediate his needs. Even so, he is one piece of the complete family picture that also includes the needs of the parents as individuals and as a couple, siblings, plus the family as a whole

Practical Tips

The full version of Strive for Balance in Personal and Family Life, which will be available in booklet form later in 2007, offers information on practical tips that may help parents find balance. Please contact an API Leader near you for more information on the following tips.

Practical Tips for Maintaining Balance

Enjoy today, and accept that having a child changes things
Set realistic goals
Put people before things
Don't be afraid to say "no"
Turn "unpleasant" parental duties into enjoyable ones
Be creative in finding ways to spend couple time
Take time for yourself
Use a "mother's helper"

Eat healthy foods
Exercise regularly
Take naps
Take care of yourself
Avoid over-scheduling
Look for ways to make routine tasks easier
Get out of the house
Follow your heart and listen to your baby

Tips for Supporting New Mothers

A new mother can become so involved in the care of her infant that she doesn't recognize her own needs until she is in emotional or physical trouble.

Be patient and sensitive
Say something appreciative about each other every day

Be grateful
Be an empathetic listener

Tips for Balance and the Older Child

Bring a friend or mother's helper to activities
Avoid over-scheduling
Spend time just being together
Develop family traditions

Have parent-child "dates"
Create family nights
Rekindle hobbies and interests

Tips for Dealing with Parent "Burn-Out"

Recognize the symptoms of burn-out. Burn-out is a physical, emotional, and mental response to high levels of stress. Parents may feel relentlessly fatigued, strained, and physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted. They may also feel overworked, under-appreciated, angry, resentful, powerless, hopeless, drained, frustrated, detached, anti-social, unsatisfied, resentful, like a failure, indifferent, and lacking motivation. Parents who feel their emotions are taking over should get help immediately!

Make regaining balance a priority TODAY
Cultivate friendships with other AP parents
Simplify and let go of unnecessary things
Take frequent deep breaths

Use yoga, meditation, or visualization
Consider professional counseling
Remember that "this too shall pass"

Attachment Parenting : The Eight Principles

Need help maintaining balance? Attend one of our monthly Mom's Nights Out. For more information, see our calendar of events.

Angela and Mary enjoy a nice foot soak at our pampering meeting.