Tried and True Stress Busters for Busy Moms

According to Richard Carlson, author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at Work, "The trait of being controlling is highly stressful." Dr. Carlson cautions against becoming "tied to an imagined image" of the way your life should be. Determine what your definition of acceptable is. Not your neighbor's, not your best friend's. Devise a plan that will allow you to ensure that those things most important to your day-to-day sanity can be accomplished with some level of frequency.

Being a mom is stressful work, there's no doubt about it. But remember your most important audience: your children. According to child psychiatrist and researcher Dr. Roxanne Dryden-Edwards in an interview with Dr. Melissa Stoppler, "Children of stressed parents can also learn the tendency to get stressed out in reaction to life's challenges from their parents." One of our biggest jobs as parents is to raise our children to be happy, healthy, functioning adults. To be able to truly expect them to accomplish these goals, we have to set forth the proper example.