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Stress Case
6 Tips to Keep Your Tension Levels in Check
By I.J. Schecter
The way to minimize this kind of stress is to raise your standards to the level of Mom's. Sweeping the kitchen floor once doesn't constitute "housecleaning," and washing your basketball socks as soon as you get home from your weekly pickup game doesn't mean you do laundry "on a regular basis." Study what Mom does during the course of a day or a week and then get in the trenches alongside her. "When you're dog tired, too, and perhaps taking heat for not being perfect, being magnanimous with Mom can be trying," says Greg Bishop of California-based Boot Camp for New Dads. "But down the road, when you look back, you'll want to know you were up to it."
Many of us don't realize just how much time we spend playing sports or doing guy stuff until we can no longer do it as often. There are two effective ways to minimize the stress created by this change. First, recognize hat you aren't defined by sports as much as you may think. People look at you now and say, "There goes a guy that takes care of his family," which is a lot more valuable than, "There goes a guy who was one of the best athletes in his high school." Second, take that steam that would normally be blown off on the basketball court, baseball diamond or hockey rink and transfer it to family-oriented contexts. Jog with your partner, do pushups with your daughter on your back or – if you're thinking you no longer have the chance for a great workout because you were forced to cancel that gym membership – try throwing your toddler in the air a few dozen times and see if you don't break a decent sweat.
