What's your coping strategy?

[suddenlycupishalffull]

I'm a SAHM with 2 DC under 4. I have no local family help & have recently moved so not a great support structure of friends either though I do attend playgroups etc. I've been getting really low lately so have decided to pull myself together & come up with done strategies for coping, particularly 3-6pm, which I find awful most days. As an introvert in the truest sense of the word I find the constant touching (being climbed over, pulled at etc) & noise level hard, & I end up shouting, zoning out or retreating into my phone/iPad for some mental space. In short, my situation isn't going to change so I need to - what coping strategies can I use to help with the intensity of it all?

Get them out of the house for several hours a day.

Learn to zone out.

And keep to mind, it won't always be like this.

It passes quite quickly - honestly. Before long they'll be coming home from school, uttering hello and getting on with things by themselves.

Yes 3-6 is utterly the worst time I remember. Maybe fill it with a very long bath? Moonsand was my friend. Horribly messy but kept them engaged for hours. Sand and water outside once it's warm enough.

Your situation is going to change though. It's hard to imagine, but it is.

Gosh in not sure of the best advice given two under 4, but just in general id say breathe.

Let your shoulders drop and breathe in deeply through your nose, feeling the breath travelling down your throat all the way into your lungs. Imagine each breath filing you with white light from your nose to the tips of your toes, and breath out of your mouth.

That and maybe have a 3 o'clock activity to add some routine to that difficult few hours. 3 o'clock is drawing time. Or scrap by book of what we've done today? Or even just long bath as another poster suggested.