Inner Spaces for Busy Moms

Learn to say "yes" to offers of help, even if you've spent your life trying to get by on your own. If grandma offers to watch the kids for a while, or a lonely senior citizen in your neighborhood would love to spend time with your little one, this is your chance to catch up on chores or enjoy a breather.

The guilty feelings some moms associate with taking time out can be even harder for working mothers who already spend many hours away home. Those moms may consider hiring occasional help around the house to "buy" quality time with the family. Even if it's expensive, look on help as an investment in yourself and your family. You may be able to cut corners in other areas to make that financially possible.

If hiring even occasional household help is not a possibility, consider giving a job to a neighborhood kid as a "mother's helper" to entertain your kids while you accomplish a goal or project. Sometimes even a little thing can help break the cycle of job to chores to job again.

Help for you can also mean joining a support group, or calling a family member or friend to vent your feelings with. Moms can find incredible comfort in knowing there are other parents struggling with similar issues. Pamela Campell, a missionary's wife living overseas and home-schooling her kids, often jests: "When I'm feeling alone I reach for the phone!"

If you have spent your life working so hard you haven't taken the time to develop close friendships, it is not too late to open up to the world around you and surround yourself with people you can help out and whom you can call upon in an emergency. Parenting is such a big job—you need all the help you can get!