Yay, it's Saturday morning! Except. You have kids with places to go. Toilet bowls to clean. Errands to run. Dinner to cook. And suddenly it's Monday. You've had no fun – just a lot of stress! But stress management is possible. You can enjoy the weekend. Here are my secrets. 1. Think outside the box Do your kids have hockey practice at 6:30 a.m.? Fine, but don't rush off to run a million errands afterward. Go home and take an hour. Brew some java. Now read the arts section of the weekend paper (my favourite). Put on some Joni Mitchell. Watch "The Flintstones.” (Yes, that's what I said!) Nap or do whatever it takes to get into a relaxed state of mind. 2. Put the fun back into “Family Time” Some weekends feel like a constant stream of To Do lists, driving the kids to their activities and prodding them to get their homework done. So it's important to build in time together that's fun. Take an art class together. Explore an unfamiliar neighbourhood at the other end of town. Cook a meal with your partner. [caption id="attachment_5854" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="Taking time for me!"] [/caption] 3. Move it and get outside We all love our screen time but it's important to set boundaries for you and your kids, too. The less you do physically, the less energy you'll have for doing pretty much anything. Get out for a long walk. Hit the community pool for 30 minutes (it's free). Get an impromtu soccer game going. 4. This sounds great, but how do I find time for this?! Here goes: I never want you to dust, wash or clean another bathroom on the weekend. Pick up dry cleaning on Monday nights. Clean the bathrooms for 20 minutes on Tuesdays. Do the grocery shopping Wednesday evenings (beats the crazy Saturday shopping mall madness). Laundry  on Thursdays. Get the family to help out. You've just bought yourself a free day on the weekend. 5. If you can do only 1 thing I used to run around making sure everyone else had a good weekend. I couldn't even think of one thing I did just for me. But it's important. Book a 30-minute massage, grab a latte with your bff. Book some gossipy phone time. Whatever. So when your coworker asks you Monday morning how your weekend went, you can tell them: “It was lovely – I'm already looking forward to next weekend!” Does any of this work for you?