Tired mum or not, mothers tend to bear the enormous responsibility of being the centre of their children\u2019s worlds. It\u2019s no surprise that between scraped knees, story time, rushed sips of coffee, meal prep, nappies, play dates, bottles, more nappies and everything in between we often forget to stop\u2026 and take a breath.<\/p>\n
As it turns out, this perpetual exhaustion you might be feeling could be more than just sleep deprivation. Parental burnout (yes, it\u2019s a real thing), looks so much like post-partum depression that for years it went undiagnosed.<\/p>\n
Burnout typically manifests itself through:<\/p>\n
If you are working a job that made you feel this way, your friends and family would encourage you to walk away. When you\u2019re feeling the same way about being a parent \u2013 well that\u2019s when things start to get complicated.<\/p>\n
In one study<\/a>, mothers admitted to feeling overly pressured to be \u201cperfect\u201d and feared that their inability to do so would shape their children\u2019s future in an irrevocable way. In today\u2019s society, where we compare our bleakest moments to everyone else\u2019s shining ones (see Instagram if you need more convincing), is it really surprising that 14% of parents are struggling with burnout?<\/p>\n When you\u2019re in a positive mindset, it is empowering to see the influence you have in your children\u2019s lives, but when you\u2019re feeling like a tired mum, there are two easy ways to help you take back control.<\/p>\n Women are fiends for motherly guilt and our maternal workplace provisions<\/a> do little to help overcome that feeling. Understandably, it\u2019s difficult for mothers to not feel like the primary caregiver \u2013 especially when maternity and paternity leave entitlements are so heavily skewed to the woman\u2019s favour.<\/p>\nForget the guilt<\/h2>\n