The personal mantras parents need to get through the day.

We all have those days. You know the ones. The days that seem endless. The ones where you open your eyes and everything just seems… hard. The kids are fighting, crying, clingy. They’re making mess and giving attitude. Honestly? These days are shit.

I’ve had a few of these days lately. It seems sometimes that the world is piling stress on top of stress and all of a sudden you’re a person that you don’t really want to be. I’m snapping at my kids for the smallest things and hating myself for hours afterwards. My patience is out the window.

Image: istock

I read somewhere that having some 'mantras' in your head during times of stress can take you down a level so I gave it a go. Guess what? It worked. Sure, having the kids draw all over my couch with texta still had me raging but I felt more in control than I had for a while. So I decided to write some mantras to get through those days. I might even mount some on a motivational poster and hang them on the back of the laundry door (which is where I hide with the chocolate block on such days)

1. It's all a phase. Really, it is. The baby doesn't sleep, it's a phase. The three year old won't eat anything that's not orange...phase. It's easy to get bogged down with the hurdles of motherhood and let it consume you but taking the time to remember that everything is a phase has really helped me to see the forest from the trees, so to speak. I'm yet to meet an adult who can't sleep through the night. We will get there.
2. I am enough. This one has been really hard for me to accept because as mum's we place so much pressure on ourselves to be everything to everyone. But I'm enough, and so are you. In fact, you're friggin' fabulous. Instead of looking at all the things you don't have time to do, can't do, can't be focus instead on all the things that you do.
3. Let them be little. Life is busy and it's easy to get caught up in thinking into the future. I've often found myself expecting more of my children than perhaps I should of. I need to remember that they are not adults, they are children and it is their right to be so. Let them be little.

   Let them be little. Image via istock

4. If they're crying, they're breathing. This is one of my favourites and it was told to me by a midwife after I had my third child. I remember sitting on the hospital bed in a flood of tears (baby blues, day four) wondering how the hell I was going to meet the needs of three children when some days I didn't even know how to look after my self. She was right. No one ever died from crying and having this mantra in my head helps out when I just can't get to one of them because I'm caught up with something else.
5. Breathe. Simple, yet effective. When I feel the familiar hot flush of stress come over me I try and repeat this to myself. Breathe, just breathe. For something that comes without thought, slowing yourself down and allowing yourself to concentrate on your breathing really can help get yourself back on the right track. It levels the situation and allows you to react rationally.

Do you use any mantras to get through stressful days?