{"id":484,"date":"2009-09-22T17:08:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T22:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/?p=484"},"modified":"2009-08-20T22:07:08","modified_gmt":"2009-08-21T03:07:08","slug":"five-relaxation-ideas-for-busy-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/?p=484","title":{"rendered":"Five Relaxation Ideas for Busy Parents"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Parents can be busy, especially if they have more than one child. One child may play a sport, another may play in the band, and another may be involved in scouting. Parents may feel like nothing more than a glorified cab driver. These five relaxing ideas for busy parents will help for those times when they actually have no running to do.<\/p>\n<p>Read a book<\/p>\n<p>How long has it been since you\u2019ve curled up with a good book? Set aside time each day to do just that. Maybe you can\u2019t physically get comfy in your favorite chair, but that doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t take time to read. If your children have you taxiing them all over the place, take along a book to read while you wait for them. You may actually be able to finish that book you started before your children were born.<\/p>\n<p>Hire a babysitter and hit the town<\/p>\n<p>Take some time out for you and your partner. Keep a list of trusted babysitters handy for those times you\u2019re not busy. Call one of them up and ask them to keep the kids while you and your partner go out on the town. <\/p>\n<p>Find a nice, quiet restaurant and promise not to talk about the children. While you\u2019re at it, why not take in a movie you\u2019d both like to see? Your children are already being cared for; you may as well take advantage of the time without them to truly enjoy yourselves.<\/p>\n<p>Exercise together<\/p>\n<p>Physical exercise has been shown to reduce stress and it\u2019s also good for the body. The great thing is that exercising also releases endorphins which help you relax and feel good, sometimes for hours after you\u2019ve finished exercising. Another benefit of exercising together is that you can encourage each other when the going gets tough.<\/p>\n<p>Take a mental vacation<\/p>\n<p>Children daydream regularly, but it seems parents have forgotten this important activity. Take time to sit together and daydream. Talk about where you\u2019d like to travel and about things you\u2019d like to do while you\u2019re there. Visualize your destination and let your minds wander. Before long you\u2019ll feel relaxed and ready to tackle the rest of your day.<\/p>\n<p>Listen to music<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s been said that \u201cmusic soothes the savage beast;\u201d it might be just the thing you need to help you relax, as well. Choose your favorite soft music. Maybe you like instrumental or nature sounds. These can be very relaxing when used during your mental vacation.<\/p>\n<p>Busy parents are often found running their children from one activity to another as well as spending a good portion of their day at work. They may not have the luxury of taking time for themselves, but it\u2019s important they do. Use one or more of these five relaxing ideas for busy parents to find ways to refresh and refocus on each other.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 10px; height: 15px;\" class=\"zemanta-pixie\"><a class=\"zemanta-pixie-a\" href=\"http:\/\/reblog.zemanta.com\/zemified\/f6eba296-4193-45a8-b94b-66b0e8f5261f\/\" title=\"Reblog this post [with Zemanta]\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: medium none ; float: right;\" class=\"zemanta-pixie-img\" src=\"http:\/\/img.zemanta.com\/reblog_c.png?x-id=f6eba296-4193-45a8-b94b-66b0e8f5261f\" alt=\"Reblog this post [with Zemanta]\"><\/a><span class=\"zem-script more-related pretty-attribution\"><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/static.zemanta.com\/readside\/loader.js\" defer=\"defer\"><\/script><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Parents can be busy, especially if they have more than one child. One child may play a sport, another may play in the band, and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[309,129,310,117,218,118,132,142],"class_list":["post-484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-babysitting","tag-child","tag-endorphin","tag-family","tag-health","tag-home","tag-kids-and-teens","tag-physical-exercise"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":547,"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/484\/revisions\/547"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parentingzoo.com\/members\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}