Baby Steps: Happy parents make happy kids

Taking care of your children is a full-time job. It is my belief that each child consists of a full-time job, so in my case, I have two children and an actual job, so I have three full-time jobs.

The full-time job of mommy means you have to make sure all of your children's needs are met, from the life-sustaining ones such as food and shelter to the perceived ones such as social interaction. It's the perceived needs that seem to take up all of a mommy's time. There are multitudes of educational endeavors you force upon your children, such as museums, school prep courses and music lessons, all in the hope that it gives your child a leg up when they actually begin school. Then, of course, there are the social interactions that some experts argue are more important than the life-sustaining and educational needs combined. The social interactions such as birthday parties, play dates and sleepovers are how your children learn how to interact with other children.

The problem is, children's schedules tend to jam-pack mommy's schedule, so mommy no longer has time to take care of herself. Now, this is where some of you will tell me I am selfish for wanting or needing time for me, but I am here to tell you that is not the case. As a mother of two kids under age 5, I will tell you that for my children's sake, I need some time to take care of my life-sustaining needs as well as my perceived needs so I can better take care of my kids.

Last night, I was so busy feeding my children, bathing them, reading bedtimes stories and tucking them in, that 9 p.m. rolled around and I realized I didn't feed myself in all of the craziness -- and I was starving! Of course, 9 p.m. is way too late to eat a meal, in my opinion, since I am going to be passed out in bed by 10 p.m., so I drank some water and pretended it was enough.

The problem is that it isn't enough, or healthy. The well-being of your children should be your No. 2 priority and you should be your No. 1 priority, because without a happy, healthy mommy, where does that leave your children?

Max and I realized that in the six months Felicity has been here, we have only had a date night once, and on that date, we went to the grocery store, came home and were in bed by 9:30 p.m.! That is not healthy for our relationship or our relationship with our children. We both need time with each other, as well as time with our friends or by ourselves, so we feel refreshed and have the energy to be the best parents we can be.

I recently sat down with Max to look at Cooper and Felicity's schedules and make a plan of attack. Between church, play dates, baby learning time and martial arts class, that didn't leave much room in our week, but we made a plan that we hope we can stick to: Once-a-month date nights and once-a-month nights out or alone time were scheduled for both of us to help us better help our children.

The saying goes, "A happy wife makes a happy life," and I am only tweaking it slightly to say, "Happy parents make happy kids."

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Kristen Pind, a native of small-town Gower, Mo., came to Southeast Missouri State University with big dreams of being the next Katie Couric or Diane Sawyer. She never thought that in her 20s, she'd be married with two kids and living in Cape Girardeau. Keep up with Kristen's adventures as a young mom who's still trying to figure out how her own life fits together. Turns out, she's living a dream she never knew she had, and loving every minute of it. Kristen invites moms of all types to find her "Baby Steps" page on Facebook.