5 Must-Follow Habits To Ensure You Are There For Your Kids

Flashback – The other day my pre-teen came rushing up to me excitedly, brandishing the new soccer ball that had just arrived from the online purchase we had done a week ago.

“Mom, you’ve got to see my soccer moves,” he said, his voice vibrating with all the passion only a 12-going-on-13 can muster for a sport I’d rather watch on TV.

I groaned inwardly. It had been a hectic day at work, what with meetings and team issues. Worse still, my sprained ankle had started hurting again and I had been looking forward to a nice, long foot soak after a hard day at the office.

Surjo saw the look on my face and his own face fell. He has a quick temper and he yanked his arm off from my mine and started moving towards our large terrace, muttering under his breath.

“Hey,” I yelled after him. “Wait up, dude, I’m coming.”

For the next 30 minutes Surjo showcased his various soccer kicks and dodges and scissor-cuts, to his adoring audience of one, and I watched proudly as I saw my son take every ounce of enjoyment from the evening.

That’s when I understood that if I had to be more than just a cook-feed-wash mother to my son, I had better do something about my energy levels.

So, ladies, here are absolutely must-do habits to ensure you are there for your kids. Because, a healthy mom is a productive mom!

These 5 tasks are not all-inclusive and you are free to add/ substitute it with whatever seems suitable in its place.

• Get Your Sleep
  

  That’s right. The vast majority of mothers are hopelessly sleep deprived. It doesn’t matter if your child is 3 months old or 13 – it’s the same thing. You’ve gotta do a million things before bedtime and it seems that no sooner had you hit the pillow than the alarm went off. The best way to catch those 6-7 hours of sleep (as doctors advise) is to hit the sack early. By early, I don’t mean while it’s still daylight. But, say, you’re going to bed every night at 11pm, try going an hour early. Leave that late-night rom-com for the weekend.

• Eat What Suits You and Eat Right
  

  Allergic to certain foods? They often come in tempting packages, ask me. I suffer from horrible allergic migraine headaches. I only have to eat something that has lemon or something similar in sourness at night and I can kiss goodbye to a happy tomorrow. A nasty, throbbing headache wakes me up at 3am or 4am and I stumble through the morning in a haze of pain, getting my kid ready for school, dropping him off at his bus-stop before popping meds and falling in bed exhausted. During the headache, I make all kinds of vows to myself that I will never, ever eat  that roadside savory snack again. The thing is to stick to it. If some food type does not sit your gut, it ‘s best to just wave it adieu.

• Exercise
  

  I was saving this for the last, but there is no way you can get around this. Move those muscles, get those legs walking (and I mean walking as in brisk, jaunty steps). No matter how busy you are, take time to walk, jog, run, swim or whatever it is that works for you. For me it is 30 minutes of a morning and evening walk and I start feeling light and all ‘squishy happy’ from within. The grass looks greener, the sky more azure, and surprise, you’ll even find yourself empowered with Zen-like equanimity even though the kids are turning the bedroom upside down.

• Get Some ‘Me’ Time
  

  Do you feel guilt creeping up on you if you spend a few hours doing just mindless window shopping? Or doing just nothing at all? For some reason, we mothers feel that unless we are running round like a headless chicken we aren’t really being ‘good’ mothers. But, girl, when did you give up loving yourself? And, why? Recharge your own batteries, doing what you love energizes the soul like nothing else does. Pamper yourself.

• Make That Higher Connection
  

  Yes, you know, God, Supreme Power, call it by whatever name. Meditation or chanting a mantra works for me as I stop doing the zillion things that have me spinning like a top and just zero down to the very basics – a quiet, one-on-one connection with our own Higher Selves.

Being a mother is challenging but also immensely satisfying. And you want to be around for your kids as long as you possibly can – healthy, happy and spreading that happiness to your kids and family!