Being a parent is rewarding and full of joy but it can also be stressful and tiring. In a society that says every part of our lives needs to be "perfect" it is easy to burnout. Read the excerpt below from CNN about these life and parenting pressures.
"You have to excel at work. You have to excel in your relationship. You have to excel in society. You have to be a great parent who feeds the kids with organic food, stimulates their brains while still in uterus, finds the right balance between protecting them and yet exposing them to the real world, shuttles them to sports, arts," and the list goes on and on, said Nikolova. "A supercomputer would go crazy. How about a simple human being!"
Here are some tips to deal with this parenting burnout:
- Get a babysitter at least twice a month to give you and your significant other a break.
- Be intentional about taking "me time" to do something that relaxes you and gives you purpose outside of being a parent.
- Speak to others about what you're going through - most time that other person is going through something similar. There is power in community.
- Stop the comparison game. With social media, you are no longer just comparing yourself to the 5 other moms at the park, you're looking at the Instagram profiles of "perfect" moms all over the world. Remember you're only seeing a one-sided view. Your life doesn't need to look like theirs.
- Embrace the chaos. Bets are that you're just in a crazy period in your life, accept it. This won't be forever, your kids will grow up and learn to do things for themselves.
Remember, you don't have to be a Super Mom (or Dad) to be a good parent. You just need to do your best.
Top image by @callred25