In Overload

There is a certain amount of stress in every person’s life everyday. Stress comes from anything that changes our daily routine or our life status. It can come from things that we perceive as good, not just those things that we know should cause us to feel stress.

They even have scales or tests that can determine the likely hood of becoming ill as a result of too much stress. Our bodies need time to process and absorb the stress before encountering more stress. When there is not enough time between events, then our resistance is weakened.

This topic has been on my mind recently because of potty training. While it has been more of an irritation for me than a stressor, I started to think about how stressful it must feel for my son.

These stress scales are set up for adults but I’m sure there is something to be said about what children have to deal with as well.

I know several years ago my husband and I were off the charts on this scale.

Within 12 to 18 months we had..

Got married
Got pregnant
Moved from one state to another
Changed jobs for him
Decided to stay home from work for me
Bought a house
Had a baby

Remembering what that felt like I started to think about all the things my little guy is dealing with.

Started pre-school
Out of the high chair and moved to a seat at the table
No more sippy cup but big kid cups with no lid
Learning to ride a bike
No more baby swing but a swing with no seatbelt
No more naps (His choice not mine)
Watching his clothes and baby toys be given away so he can get more size/age appropriate items
Transitioning from diapers to underwear

These are all steps in the natural age progression of toddlers. In his world, these must seem like such huge changes. It is so easy to say that I feel stress with more spills or more laundry or a crazy schedule to keep up with but I didn’t slow down enough to realize that this was a lot of work for him.

All of this is easier for me to see now that we are struggling less with most of these issues.

Knock on wood, we have been in diapers only at bedtime for a week and last night he insisted on no diaper for bedtime and he made it all night!!!

Woo Hoo! (Insert happy Mama Dance here)

So how are you doing on the stress scale?
Even if you’re doing fine, it might be a nice idea to think about the other people in your life and the things that they have to deal with in their world.