A volatile stock market, unpredictably disastrous weather, home mortgage crises and tightening credit crunch all add up to increasingly difficult home environments. Some of the most at-risk members of our population include pregnant and postpartum mothers. They are already coping with tremendous hormone and brain chemistry changes, and have a biological imperative to establish a safe haven for their new charges.

Unstable world environments can make the creation of a stable home life impossible, ramping up stress and wreaking havoc in parent’s minds and bodies. A stressed mother equals a stressed baby, but the reverse is also true. Helping a new mother feel more secure will have a positive effect on the baby as well. Here are some tips to cope with difficult times:

1. Focus on the Present. It may be tempting to think about the list of problems stretched out ahead of you. This will only lead to a downward mental spiral. Instead, ask yourself if you and your baby or child are safe for the moment. If you are, take a deep breath and allow a moment of gratitude. If not, do whatever you need to do to get the two of you into a safe environment and take it one day at a time.

2. Be Honest. Ignoring your emotions or hiding your feelings can work against you. Whether you are mad, sad, glad, scared or some confusing combination of these, please know that it is O.K. for you to feel whatever is going on inside.

3. Make a Connection. You may not know it yet, but you are in good company. Reaching out to others and sharing your story can bring healing and comfort. Sometimes this is possible face to face, but other options are available. Consider connecting with an online support group. Knowing that just a single person or small group cares about you, even if they are long distance, can provide strength for you to carry on.

4. Nurture Yourself. Ask yourself what you love with each of your senses. What do you love to hear? What do you love to taste? What do you love to feel? What do you love to smell? What do you love to see? Write your answers down, and be creative. Spa days, massages and fancy dinners are great, but the object here is to find small but meaningful ways to nurture yourself every day. You may be surprised to find the variety of simple, inexpensive ways to bring pleasure through multiple senses. A cup of favorite tea or coffee can nourish your sense of taste, smell, touch, and even sight if you take the time to focus and enjoy it. Stroking a cat or dog can be tremendously soothing, nourishing your sense of touch and bringing a sense of connection at the same time. It is possible to become aware of beauty even in some of the harshest environments.

5. Attend to the Basics. You need to eat, sleep, breathe and drink water every day. Remembering these small, simple steps will increase your your health and vitality when you need it the most.

6. Ask Others for Help. This is no sign of weakness. On the contrary, you prove your competence by asking for help for yourself and your family when you need it. Do you need help finding information, food, housing, resources, or a supportive network? People might not know what you need unless you tell them. Don’t let your pride interfere. Give yourself permission to ask for help and increase your chances of finding the resources you need.

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While the economy declines daily and new job layoffs have become the norm, your family may be looking for ways to trim expenses in order to add to your savings account.

It really is very simple to save well over half of what you are currently spending. You may surprised to know that there are very few savings strategies you need to learn to save over 60% of your current grocery bills or more.

First and really important, throw brand loyalty out the window and buy private label. Store brands are a good bargain and will cut your expenses by about 20% just for making the switch. When you shop, always shop the whole section, high to low and side to side. Cheaper products usually are not at eye level.

Second, always buy on sale. If you are willing to stash an extra item or two when non-perishables are on sale you will never need to pay full price again. Keeping an extra item or two on hand will save you 40% or more off the full shelf price of most items.

Third, get free printable grocery discount coupons online and use them. For those of you who don’t think clipping coupons is worth the time, think again. When combining a double coupon with purchasing products on sale you will often save 60-70% off full shelf prices. Quite often there are also free items to be found when combing both strategies. Free is a good price.

Fourth, take every oppertunity to stock up when the price is low. Focus on filling up your pantry to the brim with products for free or pennies on the dollar. I’ll tell you a secret, stockpiling super cheap food is how the Coupon Queens get their food budgets down to almost nothing.

Using the four grocery shopping strategies mentioned in this article will help you cut your food expenses quickly.

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It didn’t matter to my mom, bless her heart, if I wanted to be a musician, I should be a teacher. If I wanted to be a teacher, I should be a veterinarian. If I wanted to be a veterinarian, I should be a lawyer. That’s one way of doing it. My dad on other hand had a simple, consistent message, “Its not work if you don’t get your hands dirty.” Those were the messages I heard in my family growing up. We tried to do it differently with our kids:

We’ve tried to be supportive of our kids no matter what their interests. When they wanted musical instruments, they not only got instruments, but lessons. When they were into soccer, we devoted Saturday mornings and sometimes afternoons to soccer. When snakes were in vogue, we had snakes in the house and went to “herp” shows.

So why should it be any different when it comes to the kid’s careers? First off, we take the pressure off telling them that they are unlikely to finish in their first college major let alone find a career in whatever they graduate in. Neither my wife or I ever worked in the field of our college majors. To date we have only one post college child and she happens to have moved directly into her chosen field. Maybe exactly because we told her not to worry about it? Who knows. Our second child, our oldest son, started out a psychology major, graduated with an English degree and then promptly went back to school for music business.

Second, we tell them to follow their passions rather than the almighty dollar. To date that philosophy has us with one child earning a very good living albeit contract to contract. Even she knows that waiting tables might be an inevitability from time to time in her chosen career. We try to tell our kids that its OK to do something “artistic” or whatever. Just don’t ever count on a house in the suburbs or a new car. In other words, we tell them they can do anything they want to do. But we also tell them they can’t have it all.

Is it a better way to do it than my parents did? I guess time will tell. But so far, it seems like it and our kids seem generally happy when it comes to career paths.

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This bit of wisdom came my way via Twitter:

#QUOTE: “The greatest service you can ever do is to teach your Children to make Good Decisions.” ~~Mike Wesely

And my response:

@Mike_Wesely How about just teaching them how to make decisions? The “good” part is beyond teaching I think. #QUOTE

First of all, for those of you who don’t know what Twitter is, its sort of like instant messaging or texting except it can be done at your leisure and can be broadcast for all the world to see and read. Like that exchange was.

So anyway, I got to tell you that if it is possible to teach kids to make good decisions, I probably did and continue to do a pretty bad job. And at that I’ve got a great bunch of kids. Wouldn’t trade‘em for anything and family life would be nonexistent without them.

But here’s the thing, how could you teach good decisions even if you wanted to or thought you could? By making good decisions yourself maybe? Yeah right. Like I already don’t put enough pressure on myself. On the otehr side of the coin, many of us know how well the old, “Do as I say do, not as I do do.” works.

My thing has always been to share the basis and thought process that go into the decisions I make with the kids. Sometimes they’ll listen, sometimes they’ll pretend, and other times they’ll have none of it. But when it comes to making their own decisions, they will often try their own thought processes out. Perhaps later they’ll come to the conclusion that the old man might have known a thing or three after all. Regardless, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

You do the best you can with your kids. Spend as much time with them as you can. Enjoy them and make memories. Coach’em up. But ultimately one day those little ships will sail wherever they decide to or wherever the prevailing winds take them. At that point all you can do is step aside and pray. Oh and be there to pick up the pieces and put their lives back together again should they run aground.

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