Finding Calm When Life Gets Busy Parenting is full of love, joy, and often times, stress. Between caring for little ones, managing meals, grocery shopping, budgets, jobs, and everything else, it’s normal to feel overwhelmed.
The good news: small, simple steps can help you manage stress and care for yourself – which helps you better care for your children too.
Why Stress Matters Stress is how your body responds when you feel pressured or stretched too thin. Too much stress, especially day after day, can affect your energy, focus, sleep, and even physical health. When you notice feelings like being tired, cranky, worried, or having trouble sleeping, those can be signs of too much stress in your life.
Simple Ways to Calm Your Mind and Body 
Taking a few slow, deep breaths – especially when you first notice stress – can help calm your body. Try this:
Inhale through your nose for 4 seconds, hold that breath in your lungs for 5 seconds, then exhale out through your mouth for 6 seconds. Repeat.
Doing this even for a minute or two while cooking, waiting in line, or during a break can help. Experts call this mindfulness or breath awareness. It’s also referred to as “belly breathing”.
Moving your body can help release muscle tension and calm your mind. And we’re not talking about running marathons here. Even gentle stretches or beginner-level yoga can do wonders for your body and mind.
Yoga doesn’t have to be hard: simple poses, slow breathing, and short sessions (10–15 minutes) can help you relax.
Consider having your child join you! Little ones often enjoy stretching or “pretend yoga”. Including your child is a simple way to model self-care and calm for them too.
Parenting brings lots of tasks, which can feel overwhelming when everything piles up. To help lessen the load on your mental wellbeing:
Plan or think ahead for busy times (like messy mornings or bedtime). Even small changes like picking out outfits the night before or prepping meals ahead of time can help reduce stress.
At the end of the day, try making a “done list” – a list of things you were able to accomplish that day. Even small things count: made lunch, bathed the baby, took a shower, took 5 deep breaths, read a book with your child. This can help you notice how much you actually do get done and feel good about it. Spoiler alert: you do a lot!
You don’t need to “do it all” to feel better. Just choose 1–2 things that feel good, and build from there. Small steps can lead to big results, especially when you care for yourself as much as you care for your family.
Building a Stress-Smart Routine Time / Situation
What You Can Do
Take 2 deep breaths before starting the day; remind yourself “I’m doing my best.”
Why These Things
Work and Why it Matters Relaxation techniques like deep breathing, stretching, yoga, and mindfulness help your body calm down. That can lower heart rate, ease muscle tension, improve sleep, and support mood and focus.
Small, regular practices, even a few minutes a day, add up. Over time, they help your body and mind respond better to stress, instead of feeling overwhelmed.
When parents take care of themselves, it models positive self-care for their children and helps parents stay more present, patient, and calm during parenting challenges.
If Stress Feels Too Big, You’re Not Alone. Sometimes stress can feel too much to handle on your own, especially when you’re juggling many responsibilities.
Seeking help doesn’t mean you’ve failed. It means you care enough about yourself and your family to get support – and that’s a sign of strength.
More Trusted Resources & Where to Learn More Parenting is a big job. Taking care of yourself isn’t extra, it’s essential. Even small moments of calm, deep breaths, and movement can make a big difference for your and your family’s well-being.
Bright Horizons. (2020, November 15). How to cope with stress: stress relief strategies for the whole family.
https://www.brighthorizons.com/article/health/coping-with-stress-and-stress-relief-strategies-for-the-family
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025, June 9). Managing stress.
https://www.cdc.gov/mental-health/living-with/index.html
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2017, September 14). Yoga activity card.
https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/healthyschools/bam/cards/yoga.html
Mayo Clinic. (2024, June 24). Stress management.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-depth/relaxation-technique/art-20045368
Oklahoma Partnership for School Readiness. (2024, March 10). How to manage stress as a parent or caregiver.
https://www.okschoolreadiness.org/post/how-to-manage-stress-as-a-parent-or-caregiver
Parenting Now. (2025). Managing stress as a parent.
https://parentingnow.org/managing-stress-as-a-parent/
Unicef. (2025). How to reduce stress.
https://www.unicef.org/parenting/mental-health/how-reduce-stress-parents
Yale School of Medicine. Self-Care strategies for parents & caregivers. (2024, January 20).
https://medicine.yale.edu/news-article/self-care-strategies-parents/
Side-Lying Hold
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Cross-Cradle Hold
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Clutch or “Football” Hold
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Cradle Hold
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Laid-Back Hold
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