Having a routine but not overplanning, getting them involved with chores and making sure you have time just for you can all help you stop being overwhelmed<\/p>\n
\u2022 Sign up here to get the whole series straight to your inbox<\/a><\/p>\n My four-year-old is in the living room playing with a dinosaur, a pig and Jessie the cowgirl from Toy Story. I\u2019m trying to cook dinner. \u201cMama, mama, pllleeease can you play with me?\u201d I hear a pot lid rattle. The broccoli is starting to smell burned; I dash back to the kitchen. \u201cHelp! Quickly come! I\u2019m falling!\u201d I rush through. She\u2019s dangling from the sofa pretending to fall off the side of a volcano. \u201cHEEELP!\u201d The broccoli is definitely burning. And there goes the door. \u201cMuuuuuum, I need a poo!\u201d<\/p>\n This wild ride of five minutes is one most parents will recognise. Getting through the day is to feel like you\u2019re being pulled in a solar system\u2019s worth of directions, and by turns defeated, happier than you\u2019ve ever felt before, like a husk, in control and like you\u2019re careening off a cliff. It throws up a need to get very good at planning, and prioritising what demands to acquiesce to, when to say no; when to sit down and play, when to say: \u201cSorry, I need to sit down, or go for a run.\u201d<\/p>\n