When Your Patience Has Dried Up...

[NightOwl]

Consider a salt rock lamp. They're beautiful and provide some degree of relief for people with SAD. I bought one for my brother in law recently because he struggles with SAD every single winter and he also has kidney cancer, so it's doubly bad this time. Google hymilaian pink salt lamp and you'll find tons of info on its benefits.

[daycarediva]

If I am cranky, I always change up things with the kids first.

More outside time.
Remove half the toys, replace with boxes.
Balloons, at least 5 per child
glow sticks/finger lights and dancing
PJ & movie day

get them LOTS of gross motor time and join in on the fun.

After hours- schedule days off. Plan something fun for those days (eg. I took a full day off for a dentist appt, planned a movie/lunch date with dh)

Eat well, I usually put my meals aside in the fridge so I can open them and eat something healthy.

Lots of sleep. Every night I take a hot bath, read a book. Sometimes I have a glass of wine if I didn't with dinner. Then I put myself to bed, lights and electronics off.

Install mirrors. Seriously, ever since I did that it made me very mindful of my facial expressions.

[Annalee]

If I am cranky, I always change up things with the kids first.

More outside time.
Remove half the toys, replace with boxes.
Balloons, at least 5 per child
glow sticks/finger lights and dancing
PJ & movie day

get them LOTS of gross motor time and join in on the fun.

After hours- schedule days off. Plan something fun for those days (eg. I took a full day off for a dentist appt, planned a movie/lunch date with dh)

Eat well, I usually put my meals aside in the fridge so I can open them and eat something healthy.

Lots of sleep. Every night I take a hot bath, read a book. Sometimes I have a glass of wine if I didn't with dinner. Then I put myself to bed, lights and electronics off.

Install mirrors. Seriously, ever since I did that it made me very mindful of my facial expressions.

::I may try this......

[Miss A]

You have to make yourself a priority! You are important, and your mental health is important!

I like to look forward to a long, host soak in the tub after a particularly long, trying day. A good book and a Hot soak always make me feel better.

I also meet with a group of friends one night a week for dinner and drinks. It is so relaxing to sit and talk and joke with my friends, and enjoy that time away from the house.

Utilize nap time as your break. On stressful days, instead of cleaning or any other daycare business I usually care for, I will take a book and sit down and read. It helps me to relax and refresh while the kiddos are down for the count.

[Laurel]

For me it was back to basics with daycare. With the children do what makes YOU happy. For example, I like to color so I give the kids coloring books. I put on music I like. I like to take walks so I took them on walks on the spur of the moment (I live in a warm climate though). Little kids don't really care all that much what they do as long as it is fun. Put the less annoying toys out. Mine loved musical things but they irritated me so I took them out for a while. When I had older kids like 4 or 5 we played beauty parlor as they liked to comb my hair and I loved that. I would do their hair too. That was relaxing to me.

Put out different toys more often to keep them engaged. Along with paper and crayons put out tape, a stapler, stickers, string or yarn, a hole punch, etc. Make your own playdough. It feels sooo good when it is warm in your hands. Give them different tools to use with it than they usually have.

Call a friend or another provider and chat a while. Two provider friends and I used to go to dinner/shop one evening a week.

I take a vitamin B-12 every day. That seems to make me feel better.

Also, evaluate your program. I found that when I had too many babies at a time, it was hard so started taking only one at a time. At one point, near the end (I am retired) I started taking only 3 when I was allowed 6 children. If there is one child who is making things rough then consider replacing. Things like that.

[Thriftylady]

I clearly need to go to bed early. I was just scrolling threads and read the title as "when your panties dry up"! I hope I don't start having wet ones .

[momneedscoffee]

Ditto to what everyone else has said. I hear you on the cold - it just started warming up here and it has done wonders for my mood. I had a super grumpy few months Dec-Jan and what I found helped, was when I got myself snapping at the kids or getting impatient was I took a deep breath and made myself watch and truly appreciate how they are just children. I would mentally go though a list like "Susy is only 2, look how she is so tender with the baby dolls" "Toby is only 3, how do little boys just know how to make car and dino sounds?" "Sara is 1, she misses her momma, it is hard to be so small and control so little in your world, look how she is learning by touching everything" The litany of observations helps me center and appreciate how young the children in my care are and remember they are individual little people who need treated with respect. :hug: Hope it warms up near you soon!

I need to remember to think like this. There is tImes I do, and I feel so happy and grateful that I am able to stay home with my 2 babies and care for them. There are times when I appreciate how special and sweet all the kids are. Then there are the times when I want to rip my hair out. I need to take a step back and be thankful for the opportunity I have to care for these little people. I could be stuck behind a desk daydreaming about staying home with my little ones.

[momneedscoffee]

It is the weather for me. We have had a nice day here and there, and it works wonders for me. My irritations are usually with my family more than the DCKs though. Poor hubby bears the brunt of my moods. I start out venting, but he rarely takes it that way.

Yes the weather impacts me more than I realize. Sunny days I feel happy and productive (even if it's cold). Cloudy days I don't feel like doing a damn thing and sometimes dont (beyond what i need to obviously). And the days when I do actively engage with the kids and do different activities are obviously always the better days. Sometimes I just don't do much more than necessary and that's not really fair to the kids.

[momneedscoffee]

It occurred to me last week that I probably have some degree of SAD, being snappy/irritated, not having energy to do things I typically enjoy, etc. Just kind of recognizing it has made a bit of difference. Though I suspect as it gets nicer and I can get out more it will be even better.

Do you have little ones of your own at home? I found when my own kids were not in school, days "off" felt kind of useless because it wasn't really a "break"
Then I would book a Saturday "off" and let DH take over.

If you have older kids, I would totally take a Friday and Monday off. I usually book a massage or meet a friend for lunch/movie on Friday and Monday would be a stay in jammies day. What ever is going to relax you. It might not be completely perfect but it could help. And it's less expensive than a plane ticket to Key West

My kids are 3 and 1. So no days off. Or nights. I look forward to the weekends but never really do anything. Usually take care of the kids and do more intense cleaning than I can do during the week and buy groceries. We will usually go out for a meal and do something with the kids -swimming, park, etc. I live in a small Midwest town so there really isn't anything exciting to do.

[momneedscoffee]

Consider a salt rock lamp. They're beautiful and provide some degree of relief for people with SAD. I bought one for my brother in law recently because he struggles with SAD every single winter and he also has kidney cancer, so it's doubly bad this time. Google hymilaian pink salt lamp and you'll find tons of info on its benefits.

Oooh thanks! I'm gonna research that. I've saw a couple things about them recently but didn't know they helped with that!

[momneedscoffee]

You have to make yourself a priority! You are important, and your mental health is important!

I like to look forward to a long, host soak in the tub after a particularly long, trying day. A good book and a Hot soak always make me feel better.

I also meet with a group of friends one night a week for dinner and drinks. It is so relaxing to sit and talk and joke with my friends, and enjoy that time away from the house.

Utilize nap time as your break. On stressful days, instead of cleaning or any other daycare business I usually care for, I will take a book and sit down and read. It helps me to relax and refresh while the kiddos are down for the count.

I just took a 3 month old at the beginning of the year so my naptime break has been iffy. There is usuallly at least obe child awake. That may have something to do with my mood. Even 30 minutes to myself really helps!