Roll out your yoga mat and stream a yoga class.

After weeks of a particularly bad, clingy, tantrummy, destructive terrible twos phase (here’s hoping it’s a phase) I was starting to be worn down and cracks were beginning to show. In a particularly frustrating moment I found myself yelling at my kids and saying things like ‘don’t come near me’ feeing exasperated at the 78 things to be exasperated about. Anyway ‘don’t come near me’ …this is heartbreaking for little people to hear.

I knew I’d gone way too far and after big cuddles and apologies I sat down to an online yoga class where the teacher asked us to sit in the self-awareness mudra (legs crossed, index fingers to thumb resting on top of your knees) and set an intention. Today’s intention was about giving ourselves a compliment. It was unnatural to give myself a compliment in that moment feeling terrible as I did about my angry mummy self, but also exactly what I needed. I set my intention. “I am a calm, loving and wonderful mother”

Immediately after a few moments of peace with the intention, my two-year-old interrupted me for something or other, but I already felt so much better. Sometimes he wants to be cuddled for the entire yoga class, and I just do poses around him as best I can.

I use gaia.com for yoga and I particularly love the ‘yoga every day’ series on Gaia but there are other paid yoga streaming services and free classes on you tube. Find one you like

Get out of the house to the park.

I prefer parks where the children are fenced in so they can’t run away and force you to chase them. If your kids are past the running-away-to-potential-death phase, then the world is your oyster. Children absolutely thrive in nature. Fresh air, breezy trees and safe places to jump around and socialise. There are other parents for you to chat too. What’s not to like.

Garden.

Hands on planting, weeding and especially watering with tiny little watering cans, connects you to the earth and brings peace and calm. Plus kids are so cute when completely absorbed in their little gardening tasks that you completely forgive them for being massive pains in the ass.

Surrender.

Sometimes just lying back on the couch and reading them stories for an hour, running around and playing games and following their lead is the best thing you could possibly do. Forget the housework, and what YOU wanted to get done that day, just be. Janet Lansbury, my go-to toddler parenting guru, says that children are the best directors of their own play. The games and activities they come up with are exactly what they need for their growth and development at that time. So listening to their ideas and following that lead is the best way to go. Requests for screen time apparently don’t count as development though, so when this happen, redirect, wait it out and distract with toys and other games… or just put paw patrol on and have a goddam break for 45 minutes.

Get Childcare

Give them to their other parent/relative/friend/ babysitter for a couple of hours and take yourself on a date with yourself, for yourself. Long soaks in the tub, art gallery, the movies, or one of my personal faves, staying in bed with books, magazines, netflix and cups of tea all day long. You freaking deserve it.