Emily Chan
As much as you love your kids, it’s okay to admit that being a parent isn’t always fun. In fact, it can be draining when your toddler asks you to play hide and seek with them for the millionth time, and all you want is just an hour to yourself.
Placing your children’s needs before your own is just what parents do, but it can leave you feeling more weary than you ever thought was possible. If you’ve been constantly finding yourself in a depleted mental space, you might be dealing with parental burnout.
Burnout is common and happens for a multitude of reasons. According to a survey conducted by researchers at Ohio State University, more than two-thirds of parents experienced parental burnout in 2021.
Parental burnout is a state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by the chronic stress of parenting. It’s normal to feel overwhelmed, but with burnout, you’re stressed to the next level. You become unable to perform your duties and keep up with life’s demands.
Parental burnout has gotten a lot of attention in recent years, thanks to the pandemic. But the condition is nothing new. People have been experiencing it for decades, especially since women entered the workforce.
Having too much on your plate can result in burnout. Some common parental burnout signs include fatigue, irritability, emotional exhaustion, sleep deprivation, lack of motivation, detachment, a sense of despair, and feelings of being trapped.
You can’t pour from an empty cup, so if you’re suffering from burnout, what you need to do is recharge your mind and body. There are ways you can alleviate your burnout and learn to cope.
Ask For Help
Even when you have a supportive partner who helps out at home, there are still plenty of tasks and activities left to go around. You could always benefit from the support of others. When you need a break, seek out a babysitter. Or ask another trusted mom to take your toddler for a few hours and offer to do the same for her on a different day.
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