Have you had your break today?

I’ve been reading way too many articles about what it takes to be a good parent; way too many books about how you can avoid screwing up your kids, which (duh!!) only serves to make you more paranoid. Leave me alone, people! Why do you tempt me with your promises of parenting perfection?! How can you smell my weakness?!

So I’m overreacting a bit, when I really should just limit the amount of time I spend obsessing over strangers’ opinions of how I should raise my child. Simple enough, right?

Well perhaps I’ll take a stab at the advice giving then. Here’s what I can, without any pretension of being an parenting expert, child-rearing guru or exceptionally well-adjusted human, offer up as advice to those battling it out in the parenting trenches:

Take a break and do something seemingly insignificant for yourself today. Watch a reality TV show. Eat a cookie. Make a list of the small necessities in your days and then make sure you’ve got ’em handy when you’re about to pass out from exhaustion, exasperation, or both.

I’ll start my list here. To be flowery and silly and to sneak some alliteration in, I’ll call this list…

SHANNON’S SUNDRIES OF SIGNIFICANT IMPORT

• The Writer’s Almanac – poems and juicy tidbits about writers offered up by this slightly pompous looking man, Garrison Keillor. Love his voice.
• Pray as you Go – Meditative prayer MP3 downloads. Listen to it on the bus. Listen to it in your bed. Listen to it! You’ll feel better when you have.
• Snowflake Tea (Coconut, almond infused tastiness in a cup. Thank you, Tea Embassy!) with a touch of honey and if I’m lucky and I’ve remembered to buy it, real cream!
• A good handful of pitted, large kalamata olives.
• Spotify – find a friggin’ awesome song and listen to it on repeat until you hate it. I suggest “Lights Out, Words Gone” by Bombay Bicycle Club
• Nap, nap, nap. If you can get one, take it and luxuriate in it for the few seconds before you are dead to the world.
• Ice cream! This is Texas, people! I can’t handle the weather and I need me some comfort!

Hmm… This is a good start at least. What’s on your list?