Sunday, June 15, 2008

Stress management

On Friday I went to an all-employee mandatory meeting at work. They blind-sided us with an hour of stress management training. Exactly who thinks that making 100 co-workers stand in the ballroom of a country club doing stretching exercises together at 9:30 in the morning will reduce their stress? The only thing that got me through it was watching my arch-nemesis looking like he wanted to crawl behind the curtains rather than reach up...and down.

It got me thinking of the special sorts of stress management techniques we homeschool moms have:

Hiding in the bathroom reading the Rainbow Resources catalog.

Sending the kids out back to play.

Signing the kids up for an extra-curricular activity that we don't have to participate in just so we can sit alone in the car for an hour.


Packing up all the math supplies in a box and saying that we aren't doing any more math, ever. Or least not for a month.


Declaring it a park day and taking off.

Hanging out in our favorite homeschool forums.

IM'ing with friends.

Blogging.

Not a single one of those are things I would have shared with the co-workers.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is all so true!! I especially like the one about sitting in the car!! I do that all the time!! I for one am glad you didn't share it with your co-workers!!
I pictured your archnemesis crawling away and laughed!! Thanks for the laugh!!!
Bunny

Ami said...

I hate, hate, HATE the stupid corporate mindset.
Team building exercises.
Hours wasted in 'time management' classes.
Let's all read What Color is Your Parachute and get exalted together, shall we?
Let's try Deming's philosophy and we'll all be part of the TEAM!! Go Team GO!!!
You're not employees. We'll call you ASSOCIATES.


A few reasons I am never going to be part of that world again.

::uploading sympathy::

Red said...

Stress relievers.
1)Getting a full body massage
2)Eating chocolate
3)Watcging my children do chores
4)Watching my favorite TV show or movie...take your pick
5)Reading a good book with no interruptions

Take that to your stress management team and let them have at it!!!

dariasmama said...

Stress relief okie style:

1) Cheap grocery store beer on the front porch in the shade.

2) A car ride where no one is allowed to speak to me until we get where we're going (do not combine 1 & 2)

I despise "team building" anything. Didn't like it as a kid, don't like it now. Deming's philosophy only worked for me if there was cash involved. Just telling me I'm part of the "team"...uh, no thanks...shovel it somewhere else please.

You have my deepest sympathy for getting blindsided.

MOM #1 said...

OH, everything you said is SO TRUE!

I know I'm a weird one, but one of my favorite stress relievers is washing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. No one, and I mean NO ONE will come near me when I am cleaning.

I am ridiculously anal about everything being perfect and everyone is afraid I may give them a chore to do so they always find a way to get busy by themselves FAR AWAY FROM ME.

It's the only peace and quiet I get, so I take it, LOL.

Synia said...

Although I do not homeschool, I am a Mom of three and relate to a few of those stress management techniques myself.
One thing I do when one of my girls is "bored and has nothing to do" is to give them a chore such as mop the floor, wash the dishes, scoop the cat box, dust the house etc. Once they are finished, for some reason they disappear for a few hours, apparently in the hopes that I won't give them another job. LOL

Fatcat said...

That Rainbow Resource catalog gets heavy when you carry it everywhere you go, doesn't it?

Anonymous said...

Oh, I don't know... The Rainbow Resources catalog could do wonders for anyone...