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Super Moms: Take A Break!
By The JBG Staff 
Moms are the salt of the earth, crème de la crème and all that and a bag of chips. They are soccer moms, baseball moms, ballet moms, gymnastic moms, cheerleader moms and of course football moms. They are working moms and multi-taking moms as they try to juggle their family’s schedule in between conference calls, managing projects and meetings. These super moms are also tired moms! When the time comes to have some grown up fun, moms are usually the last to get in on the action. “I love doing the grown up outings, but I feel guilty leaving my kids with a sitter,” said Stephanie. “Surely it’s necessary for my mental health, but I just don’t do it enough.” Justine agrees. She said every weekend is filled with shuttle her children to parties and sporting events and it leaves little time for her to see her friends or spend a quiet moment with her husband. “Give me a big fat “F” when it comes down to doing stuff without my sons,” Justine said. “It’s not that I don’t want to I just don’t think there is any time left to do things for me. “My sons play every sport and I want to be there to support them but I am tired,” she said. “I feel like a hamster running around in one of those wheels. Sometimes, I secretly hope one of them will lose their interest so I can relax, have a Saturday morning off and be a couch potato.” Experts say parents have to take control and put an end to overloading kids with organized activities in order to prevent the children from being as stressed out as their parents, especially mom. Lynette Lewis, a Family Program Director at the YMCA in Ridgewood, N.J. recently told WebMD.com that her facility offers yoga classes for kids so they can unwind. "Kids no longer go outside and hit the baseball. They have a game. They no longer sit and color, they go to art class," Lewis told WebMD. "There is no doubt that they are spending their time in constructive activities that provide them with fun and useful skills. But they are spending a lot time in these activities and everything is so structured that everybody is stressed. Parents spend several days a week, sometimes every day, rushing from one after-school activity to another." Melissa said organized activities were causing too much strife in her life, so she and her husband decided to curtail their son and daughter’s activities even though their children were angry. “We’re able to eat dinner together at least four nights a week now,” said Melissa. “When my kids’ schedules were filled we were lucky to have dinner together twice a week. “Our decision to pull back made us unpopular with our kids and even some of the parents, but we did what we had to do to relieve the stress in our life.” Melissa said her children are no longer cranky and neither is she. “It was a good move for us.” Cherie said has always had healthy relationships and outings with her adult friends because she never allowed her children’s lives to be more important than hers. As toddlers, her kids didn’t participate in Mommy & Me Classes and when they became old enough for organized activities they were allowed three a year. “I refused to sign them up for anything that overlapped,” said Cherie. “It’s important for kids to have fun and interact with others but I didn’t think it was important for my kids to do everything. “In many cases, I think the parents want to live vicariously through their children,” she continued. “Not me … I have a great life of my own.” Tips To Create Balance:
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