photo: Leland Francisco, Creative Commons

As a pro sports wife, balancing back to school comes with its challenges. By now summer vacations, family visits to your home, and the kids’ summer camps are winding down. Whether you’ve been supporting your pro sport husband over the summer, counting down the days together before his camp starts, or packing his bags for his newly signed overseas contract, your husband’s absence may cause significant distress during this time of year.

Many family responsibilities fall into your lap due to your husband’s schedule. Over time this routine may become overwhelming and cause symptoms related to stress, anxiety, depression and marital conflict.  

Here are some healthy ways to include your husband & balance back to school successfully:

• Have a family conversation with your husband and children outlining the expectations for the school year. Be transparent with your children about their father’s absence and what that will entail. Help keep them feel secure by creating a consistent and predictable time to connect and discuss back to school challenges with their absent parent.
• Use virtual technology to involve your husband with day to day school business. Set the expectation and take some of the load off of yourself by sharing this responsibility. Make sure your husband knows the courses and teachers’ email addresses so he can easily connect with them to ask questions or check in regularly about his child’s progress.
• Plan ahead and implement a daily schedule which includes extracurricular activities, dinner menus, meal times, bedtimes, and morning routine. Make sure bedtimes are structured where you can have at least 1 hour to yourself to plan and organize the next day.
• Implement a daily self-care regiment which consists of proper sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Schedule regular massages to help alleviate tension and stress and promote relaxation. Hire help and make time to cultivate self-interests, business endeavors, and social outlets with friends.

Porsha Williams, LAMFT

Pwilliams@ GROWcounseling.com