Oxygen First to the Parent

"It's interesting to listen to a flight attendant describe what to do in an emergency on an airplane. They say that if the oxygen masks come down, "If you are traveling with a child, put on your mask first, and then help your child with theirs." Keep this in mind: oxygen first to the parent! A very important concept.
It is incredibly hard to help our children with their emotional development when we are drained dry ourselves. If the mother is dragging around like a beaten-up doormat, how can we expect the children to be emotionally healthy?
Look to your own emotional health--and look carefully. The most powerful lessons you teach your children are the ones you teach by example with your own life. Are you teaching them to take care of their health and get enough sleep? Or are you lurching through life sleep-deprived, overweight, and under-exercised? Do you teach them to take regular time off for fun and recreation? or do you keep working, working, working, and grinding yourself to a pulp?
Remember, oxygen first to the parent!
If you respect yourself, they will be more likely to respect you as well. And if they respect you, they'll respect themselves because they have seen how to do it! That circular lesson sets the foundation for so much more. Don't deprive them of learning it." - Merrilee Boyack, The Parenting Breakthrough