Serenity now! - or how I discovered new use for Noise Cancelling Headphones.

After another successful, yet long night by myself with the kiddos, I decided that my little trick on staying calm during second half of the day, while multitasking house duties and listening to non-stop rumblings of my kids, cannot go down in history undocumented. I really hope that I am helping somebody out there and not just making a fool of myself by admitting that I am the last parent on planet Earth to find out about this unconventional use of noise cancelling headphones (NCH).
Somewhere between making family dinner, feeding my super picky eaters, and then listening to their never ending stories or blaring TVs in different rooms, very often I feel like I am ready to put myself on timeout. Don’t forget, mommy always gets to eat last, so she is usually pretty irritated or ready to collapse by the time she gets to finally sit down and eat. By about 7pm I just can’t take all the noise and new set of dirty dishes anymore. End of the day can be especially draining, when every minute feels like an hour. You just can’t wait for all the noises to subside.

Recently my husband has been traveling many time zones back and forth, and sometimes in a matter of one week, which made it very hard for him to recover from jet lag. During one of those trips, another experienced traveler recommended NCH to help with background noise fatigue (who would have thought, right?) and help with jet lag. Guess what my hubby has found under the tree this year? I have never tried NCH before, but the minute I put them on, I loved the feeling.

One lucky night they ended up laying around the kitchen and I decided to put them on. It felt nice! Not to say that I don’t enjoy energetic voices of my kids, but after a long day it is hard for my brain to not be on pins and needles from any louder than usual noise (beauty of getting old, I assume). That’s where the headphones go on my head and stay there until kids go to bed. They work like a charm! If you are interested you can read more about the technology here. Basically, the headphones do not make you deaf, but they tremendously cut down on the unnecessary background and white-noises. You hear what you need to hear and everything sounds further away. It makes you more relaxed because your brain doesn’t need to process every sound. It also cuts down on the need to elevate your voice when talking to your kids: you do not need to compete with TVs, running water, pump on your fish tank, dog and other things. Result - I feel rested and calm all night, and can even get some work done after kids go to bed. I am seriously addicted to NCH now. No wonder they are even recommended for autistic kids who are often very sound sensitive.

Now, please tell me that I am not the last parent on the planet Earth who discovered this!? And if you decide to try this technique, let me know how you like it and if it worked for you!

Till next time,
Liana.