Parental Burnout: Four Tips to Unplug This Summer

It’s 5:15 a.m. and the alarm sounds. I grab my phone, bleary-eyed, to discover 15 unread emails in my personal account (most are junk) and 20 work-related. I’ve got notification of two text messages, one missed call, and a voicemail. Three calendar alerts are already popping up by 5:30 a.m. It’s Monday morning and I’m already starting my day feeling overwhelmed.

“Mama! Come get me!” My 4-year-old yells to me from her room. Time to get her up, fed, and out the door for preschool. Client emails begin to flood in (adding to the 20 I have not yet addressed). Another reminder pops up on my phone. I try to ignore the notifications. Anxiety attacks me like a hungry shark as the red notifications pile up.

Life sometimes seems to move at a million miles an hour.

Somehow, it feels like I’m so busy but yet accomplishing next to nothing. Too many notifications. Overscheduled. Frantic. Exhausted.

Welch’s (of Welch’s Grape) conducted a study of more than 2,000 mothers. They concluded that moms work the equivalent of 98 hours per week or 2.5 times the average person. Yikes. Likewise, the World Health Organization (WHO) just added burnout to their latest version of the International Classification of diseases.

A 2018 study entitled “Parental Burnout: When Exhausted Mothers Open Up” concluded that parents experience the same phenomenon of “burn-out” as it pertains to parenting.

Summer is the perfect time to unplug, recoup, and block out the noise of notifications and the never ending tasks of momming. In addition to my own self-care and getting some rest, here are four tips to eliminate some of that parental burnout:

1. Put down your phone. Yes, that’s right. You don’t need to google everything. Those emails don’t need an immediate response. Our attachment to technology most certainly affects our brains. Let’s rest our brains for a bit!
2. Play! Playing with your child is beneficial to both of you in various ways. 
3. Get outside. The sun truly helps us feel happier. This is particularly true if we’re normally sitting at a desk or trying to occupy a child all day!
4. Let go! Of perfectionism and the feeling of needing to be everything to everyone. Ok, this one is easier said than done, but even a few minutes of meditation can help you let go a little. Maybe even meditate outside after playing with your child? Three birds, one stone?

Our lives are hectic and as mothers, we’ve got it (more than) twofold. Embrace the summer and sun to let go a little, to breathe, to put down the damn phone and all of its notifications. Avoid the burnout and opt for a suntan instead!