Taking time out when you are a parent is selfish… Or is it? As parents we often tell ourselves that our own needs are not important and our children come first – but with the significant increase in the prevalence of people struggling with mental illness, we need to start taking our emotional needs as seriously as we take our physical needs.
In order to raise healthy, well-balanced children we need to be not only physically present but also emotionally available to them. Children pay more attention to what we model through our actions than what we say; therefore if we would like our children to look after their mental health, we need to model this in our own lives.
Through taking time out to fill up our own emotional energy we are able to take better control of our own emotions and therefore parent more wisely. It is important to understand what activities fill you up personally. This could be anything from engaging in your spirituality or a favourite hobby, to having a relaxing bath.
The value of the activity is not usually about taking hours out of one’s day to enjoy ‘me time’ but being totally engaged in the activity in the maybe 20 minutes that you have.
Our mental health is vital to us as parents because without it we can’t be the quality parents we want to be. Taking time out to fill up our emotional energy and maintain our mental health is the furthest thing from being selfish. In fact it is one of the most loving things we can do for our families.