Stress Information

Article Navigation

Click Here for more articles

Dealing With Family Stress

by: Trevor Dumbleton

Copyright 2005 Trevor Dumbleton

One of the problems with family stress is the fact that is knows where you live. After all, it tends to show up exactly where you live: at home. This tends to be a bad thing, since working people generally try to come home in order to relieve their stress. Of course, it is even worse for those who are full-time homemakers, since the source of stress is there all the time. In fact, even going to a job every day seems like it would be a nice stress relief. Thus, when family stress starts rearing its ugly head, it is time to take stock of things and figure out a way of lessening it.

The first thing to do, when dealing with family stress, is to let go of the illusion that the home is somehow a place a rest and tranquility that is utterly free from any sort of stress. Let's face it, it's just not true. Though you love your family and enjoy spending time with them, home life can be very stressful. After all, you have many people there who have a lot of expectations of you and you cannot fulfill all of those expectation all of the time. So understand that stress can enter the home and you will be halfway there.

The next step in lessening family stress is to actually spend time with your family. One of the best ways to spend time with your family is at the dinner table. Just sitting down with your entire family and enjoying a meal is a way to connect with everyone. Do not eat dinner in front of the television but, rather, sit in the dining room or kitchen and just share a meal. At first, it may be quiet and there may not be much to talk about, but this will come in time. As it slowly sink into your family members' minds that there is nothing to do but talk to each other, conversation will start flowing.

The next step in alleviating family stress is to have fewer expectations of your family members. Yes, you expect your spouse to be absolutely devoted to everything you say and do, you expect your kids to be straight-A students and you expect your home to be immaculate all the time every day. Tip for you: Not going to happen. Homes are not perfect any more than people are perfect. As in, not at all. Imperfections are part of home life and you will need to learn how to deal with them. Accept the bad, enjoy the good, and let everyone be human. Then everyone will have much less stress and, as a result, everyone will be much happier.

Next, accept the fact that you are not a superhero. Despite the fact that you want to be able to work hard every day, spend plenty of time with your kids, drive them to every sports/music/dance practice and be there for every game/recital/performance, it is not going to happen. Yes, you can make every effort to be there all the time and it is very important that you try, you cannot be everyplace all at once. Learn to appreciate the fact that you are not going to be perfect. You may try and you may be largely successful, but you cannot be everything you wish you could be. So accept your own humanity and allow yourself to be human too.

Finally, when you want to relieve family stress, do not force it. Yes, you want everything to come easy and you want to be able to connect with your kids all the time, but that is not always possible. Children change, often in surprising ways, and you need to learn how to accept that. This is especially difficult with teenage children, since they tend to be moody, elusive, and sometimes even obnoxious. However, by accepting them for who they are and dealing with the fact that they are not ready to open up to you all at once, you will relieve a great deal of family stress. This is especially true if you have not been able to reach them for some time, since they tend to be closed off and reluctant to open up to their parents. So accept that it will take some time for you to make some connections and understand that things may not always be as easy as you hope. After all, if something was easy, it wouldn't be worth doing, would it?

Family stress is difficult to deal with, but it is not impossible. By accepting your own limitations, as well as those of your family, you can save yourself a lot of worry and concern by simply understanding that your family is composed of different people. Different people who have their own lives, their own concerns, and their own unique way of seeing things. By accepting that, you can understand their points of view and come to grips with the fact that family stress is, oftentimes, just a fact of life.

About the author:
LowerYourStress.com: for everything to do with stress. Get a free ebook to help with your stress levels:

Circulated by Article Emporium

Read Articles:

Set Yourself Stress-Free

What is a Body Massage?

Beating the Freshman 15

5 Tips To Boost Your Spirits

The 7 Myths Of Relaxation

CUT STRESS THROUGH EFFICIENCIES

5 Top Tips To Boost Your Spirits

Discover the Hidden Power of Self Motivation

10 Ways to Reduce Commuting Stress

Quiet Time

How To Stress Less and Smile More

10 Unusual Ways to Reduce Stress

A Simple Tip For When You're Stressed

A Guide to Female Hair Loss -

The Social Web of Stress - Simple Solutions

Discover Yoga's Healing Power

Stress, Anxiety and Depression - What is the d...

4 Steps for You to Help Yourself During Chemoth...

Food for Thought

Myth Busting: What Causes Mental Breakdown?

Plan To Succeed!

The Curse of Work

Rio Light Mask Photic Stimulation Therapy For M...

Alternative Therapies for Acid Reflux Disease

T'ai Chi in the Information Age � Ancient Cure ...

How to Increase Your Energy Naturally

Plantar Faschitis And Heel Bone Spurs Causes

Even Dogs Get the Holiday Blues: Meditation Can...

The Benefits of a Memory Foam Mattress

Adult Acne Solved!

Skin Care Secrets � You can have Beautiful Skin

The Cause of Hair Loss -

WONDER PILLOW Memory Foam Pillow For Orthopaedi...

Treadmill vs elliptical: A never ending argument

Understanding Depression

Causes of Canker Sores

Environment - Anxiety & Panic

Conquering Your Acne - A Few Helpful Tips

Press Release "Is Spike in pain?" ...

Suffering From Constant Headaches - 3 Proven & ...

The Truth About Acne

Acne and Skin Problem Myths Debunked

Don�t Let a Headache Keep You Down

The Modern Steam Bath -- A Healing Remedy for S...

Top 10 Causes Of Acne

Acne Myths, Finally Some Facts

Viagra Is Good for the Heart

"Your assigned character in life"

Breathing And Relaxation Techniques To Sleep Be...

Research Confirms Drinking Relieves Stress

A Cure For Erectile Dysfunction And Impotence -...

Hypnosis: Benefits You Can�t Live Without

Menopause and Weight Loss

Gearing Up for Flu Season

Fit for What?

Seven Easy Ways To Do Aromatherapy Skin Care At...

The Benefits of Taking a Daily Multivitamin

9 Tips to Stop Food Cravings and Help You With ...

Do Cellulite Creams Actually Work?

Busting Acne Myths Requires Individualized Trea...

More Article Pages 1 - 2 - 3

Mom's Job Stress May Spread to Kids
by: Rita Jenkins

Low job satisfaction in working mothers increases the stress levels of their children, but allowing them to spend more time in childcare can help overcome these effects, according to new research published in Developmental Psychobiology.

Children whose mothers found their jobs emotionally exhausting or otherwise less rewarding had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol than children whose mothers reported more enjoyment from their jobs, researchers found in a study involving more than 50 nursery school children.

Levels of cortisol in the evening were more than double in the children whose mothers experienced less job satisfaction. Placing those children in childcare would help to significantly reduce their stress, the research suggests.

The researchers also found that children from families that were either highly expressive or very reserved exhibited higher than average cortisol levels.

Greater support is needed for working mothers to help improve their job satisfaction and increase the availability of affordable childcare options, says the report.

More Time in Childcare

Dr. Julie Turner-Cobb, a health psychologist and senior lecturer at the University of Bath, Dr. Christina Chryssanthopoulou from the University of Kent and Dr. David Jessop, a neuroimmunologist at the University of Bristol collaborated on the study.

To measure cortisol levels, they took saliva samples in the morning and evening from 56 children aged three to four years old. They also surveyed mothers about their workplace conditions and home life over a six month period.

"Spending more time in childcare makes a big difference to the stress levels in children whose mothers have low job satisfaction," says Dr. Turner-Cobb.

"It can help protect children from the effects of their mother's low job quality and emotional exhaustion. Ensuring that mothers of young children have good support in the workplace is essential for supporting both mothers and their children," she adds.

"Improving the job satisfaction of working mothers means that they are less stressed themselves," says Dr. Jessop, "and extending the availability of affordable and adequate childcare may not only improve the quality of life for the mothers but, in doing so, may improve the long term health of their children."

Healthy Adaptation to Stress

Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates blood pressure and cardiovascular function and immune function. It also controls the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.

Cortisol secretion increases in response to stress, whether physical -- such as illness, trauma, surgery or temperature extremes -- or psychological. It is a normal and essential response without which we would not be able to function in everyday life.

When these levels remain high or become disrupted in some way over a prolonged period of time, however, they may have consequences for health. It is important to promote healthy adaptation to stress in children, and good quality childcare is one way of doing this, say the authors.

This Static Spot is open for sponsor

This Static Spot is open for sponsor