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# GUEST COMMENTARY BY LINDA MILO Quit the stressing and take a bite out of life
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/guest-commentary-by-linda-milo-quit-the-stressing-and-take-a-bite-out-of-life/
- Published: 2007-02-06T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:00:45.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Health, Santa Monica, #archive-import

IT’S BEEN ESTABLISHED THAT STRESS is your body’s reaction to a threat or a challenge. When your heart beats faster and your muscles tense, then you’re in a stressful condition. Stress can be both helpful and harmful: It’s the fuel that powers you over your life’s obstacles, such as a personal tragedy or a job interview, and it’s also known that stress, which runs into high gear, can also wear you down physically and emotionally.

Parenting is stressful because of the many demands made on parents balancing their career, children and personal needs. Changes, which take place through your child’s physical and emotional phases, cause stress to the entire family. How you learn to handle stress is vital to the health and happiness of your family.

Many parents become stressed when they don’t have a grasp on their child’s daily behavior. They are unsure of their parenting skills. Some parents expect their child to act like small adults, and when they don’t, the parent becomes frustrated and angry. In the olden days, there was a lot more family support by grandparents, friends, community and relatives. Today, the support system is much smaller, causing parents to feel worn out trying to meet their child’s needs and their own needs. There is also stress involved in trying to model the perfect family, which leads to low self-esteem — seen as a personal failure by many parents. Add the stress involved in everyday living, which includes work, making money and illnesses, and you can see the whole family may suffer.

Here’s how to cope with everyday parenting stress: • Learn to manage your frustration and anger by finding out what causes your frustration and anger. When you find out what triggers this, avoid situations that create this. Find outlets for your frustration by going for a walk, calling a friend or reading a book. Slow down as much as you can so that you can change behaviors that make you feel like screaming. Counting to 10 works when someone upsets you, communicating your feelings to others about your problems, and getting the necessary time to center yourself each day is very helpful. Learn to be patient with yourself and the situation you are confronting.

And always remember to keep a sense of humor when things become overwhelming. • Look in your local newspaper to find groups that bring services that help families. Build a network of friends and family that can assist you when times get too stressful. Talking and sharing does a lot to curb stress. • If you find your child’s behavior perplexing, go visit the library and find books that give advice on child behavior patterns. Remember children have their own way of looking at things; they usually don’t misbehave on purpose. Attend parenting workshops where you can learn to parent effectively and still maintain your balance. Learn and understand the different ways of positive discipline. • Love yourself more. Learn to get enough exercise daily, eat foods that are beneficial to your body, take time out from work, children and spouses by going out to eat or go to a movie, and most importantly, get enough rest each and every day.

Remember that needing help in your everyday stressful life is not a sign of giving up or not being able to be the best you can — what it means is that you want to know and do more for yourself and family members to enjoy a happy and healthy home life.

LINDA MILO is “The Parent-Child Connection Coach.” For more information, visit www.empoweringparentsnow.com.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 6, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/020607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)