Leave Behind Stress, & Enjoy Your Evening

Entry #229, July 30, 2010

For most of us, the daytime is filled with rushing to meetings, running errands, picking up kids, going to the grocery store, cooking dinner, getting ready for bed, and then falling asleep when your head hits the pillow! Home solutions are about finding ways to make your home run smoother and more enjoyable.
Have you ever thought about how to enjoy the evening? For me, I find the evening is the time to decompress, connect with the family, and recharge for the next day. Whether it actually turns into that for me is a different story!

Enjoy your evenings again!

I found this article on Stepcase Lifehack by Erin Kurt on 5 Steps to a Calmer Evening.

1.) Ease into the Evening

Instead of walking in the door after work or errands and immediately launching into another chore, allow time and space to downshift into evening mode.  It’s basically about transitioning.  In other words, giving yourself and your family that unwind time.

Creating a calming ambiance, by turning off the TV and playing soothing classical, jazz, or instrumental music, can instantly reset the emotional tone of the house.  Another idea is to dim the lights and light a few candles – it makes for a warm, cozy atmosphere that will relax the family.

Another transition idea is to create a ritual.  Set vegetables and dip or cheese and bread on the counter and serve juice or water in fancy wine goblets.  This will not only take the ravenous edge off so you avoid meltdowns before dinner, but it will feel special and establish the transition time.

2.) Create a Dinner System

Have an easy go-to meal ready when needed!

Rushing to get dinner on the table is a major source of evening mayhem, but a little bit of preplanning can help youpower through with a minimum of stress.  Use weekends to chart out your nightly dinners, grocery shop, and even preassemble parts of a meal when possible.  Consider writing a weekly plan and checking the calendar to see which nights are going to be particularly busy – so you know when frozen pizzas or easy-prep meals are a must.

3.) Keep the Kids Busy

All the shortcuts in the world won’t help if you’re constantly being interrupted, so a little creativity may be needed to get the kids out from underfoot.

Make the time you cook be about you and let your older kids, who should be doing homework, know that you are there only to be asked a very important question.  Other than that, you are off limits.  For younger children, it might be necessary to involve them in the meal preparation or to put on an appropriate DVD.  When my son was younger I used to put him in his highchair and talk in an animated way – sort of my own version of a cooking show.  Now that he’s older, he helps put ingredients in bowls and pots and stirs just about everything!

4.) Plan Homework Time

To avoid last-minute cries of “Mom, I haven’t done my homework yet,” having a homework routine is a must.

Help the kids finish homework earlier than later

After the kids have had a healthy snack and 30 minutes down-time after school, they should begin their homework so that it is completed before dinner.

5.) Share the Work… and a Break

Dividing tasks between you and your partner can make family time more serene for both of you.  It might be that when your husband walks in the door, it’s his turn to take the baby for 30 minutes so you can get dinner started.  Then, after 30 mins, you take the baby back and your partner has 30 minutes to change and unwind.  This way you’ll both be refreshed enough to start your evening together.

Be flexible with this.  If your partner is stressed when walking in the house, offer a later-in-the-evening task, such as washing dishes or packing lunches for the next day.

All in all, evenings can be calm if routines and decisions are made ahead of time.   Decide what you and your partner truly value and then set up some systems to make it work.

For more outdoor living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.