I’m passionate about building strong relationships with our children and being there for the important conversations. That is why I partnered with #TalkEarly on this post.

“Mommy, how about you go lay down and take a nap and I’ll play with my brother.” It was more of a demand than a question. And a nice pleasant surprise from my wise 7-year-old.

If I didn’t luck out with an amazing daughter I don’t know who did.

One of the traits I absolutely adore about my her is her ability to sense how people are feeling and wanting to help. When I told her about the baby I also explained it was why I’d been so tired, why I need more rest and she immediately understood. It’s given me an opportunity to share how sometimes we need time by ourselves, or time to do something we enjoy.

It’s no secret that the start of my pregnancy wasn’t all sunshine and roses. But if that experience has taught me anything it’s that I need to take care of myself. Not just physically, but mentally, and emotionally as well. And I want my kids to see me do this in healthy ways.

When I get overwhelmed and stressed out my reaction tends to go one or two ways. I either eat a motivation sandwich, push myself, get amped up, and tackle as much as I can as quick as I can while enlisting help from others. Or I completely shut down. The last few months I took the latter approach.

All over social media we laugh at and share memes highlighting moms who just need a glass of wine at the end of the day. How often do we stop to think what that’s telling our children? Though I don’t drink, I’ve made myself evaluate what message I may be sending my kids when I’m responding to feeling stressed.

It’s important for my kids to know we all have good days and bad days. Even mom and dad. But it’s important to know appropriate ways to take care of yourself on the bad days.

The term “self-care” has been all the rage lately and yet, I’ve never really mastered it. I’m still learning how to do this, and how to make time for myself a priority.  In fact, I recently send a tweet that perfectly describes my approach.

Is “self care” open to interpretation? Like, staying in my pajamas all day sounds pretty darn fantastic.

— Jennifer Borget (@JenniferBorget) January 30, 2018

It doesn’t always mean I’m going to get dressed up and put makeup on. Or take a day off and hit the spa. Or go to the gym for a workout. It probably would do my some good to try that now and then. But more often than not right now self care means enjoying a bath while my kids play in the other room. Taking a nap as soon as my husband gets home from work. Or just staying in my pajamas all day.

My sweet daughter, though only 7-year-old is aware enough to know when mama just needs a nap. And I’m going to try to do a better job of letting her know that I appreciate her helping me to take care of myself. And though different for everyone, we all could use a regular dose of self-care.

I’m teaming up with Responsibility.org again as a part of their #TalkEarly program encouraging parents to create a lifetime of conversations with kids about alcohol responsibility starting with kids as young as 6-9 years old. You can find a wealth of knowledge over on the #TalkEarly page and find more information. The nonprofit Responsibility.org sponsored today’s post, however all thoughts, opinions and stories are my own.

Tags: motherhood, parenting, partner, self-care, talkearly