7 Steps Guide to Cope Up With Parental Burnout

Is Parental Burnout a Real Thing?

Parenting involves constantly trying to get your loved ones to cooperate while simultaneously caring for their emotional, physical, and mental needs and juggling various roles. Parenting can be incredibly stressful and is certainly not for the faint-hearted.

Even though many parents accept that their role involves doing all the hard work, they find it very rewarding despite it being stressful. However, parental burnout is a condition with decreased satisfaction, ultimately reducing parenting effectiveness.

In this stress-related emotional state, parents might feel futile and worn out about their parenting efforts. In addition, parental burnout often involves feeling entirely zoned out, displaying the least amount of emotional expressions, and giving minimal support. 

Signs of Parental Burnout

Often, caregivers and parents experience and display feelings of disappointment and frustration, which can be associated with parental burnout. Identifying these prevalent symptoms and signs enables you to address the issue soon, take positive action to cope with it, and prevent future parental burnout. These signs include:

·         Irritability

·         Changes in interest or behaviour in doing things 

·         Sleep problems

·         Frustration

·         Overwhelming physical exhaustion

·         Isolation or avoiding others

·         Chronic mental fatigue

·         Emotional detachment or feeling disconnected from your child

·         Difficulty remembering things

·         Loss of productivity

·         Revenge bedtime procrastination

·         Feelings of resentment, guilt, and shame.

·         Urge to harm yourself or others.

Causes of Parental Burnout

Parents suffering from burnout often take on more work and pressure than they can handle, leaving little room for mistakes. Here are some prevalent causes of parental burnout:

·         Lack of support and communication

·         Unrealistic assumptions

·         Poor boundaries

·         Scheduling conflicts

·         People-pleasing behaviour or tendency

·         Distrust in others

·         Limited knowledge or access to resources

7 Ways to Cope with Parental Burnout

Parental burnout is bound to cause feelings of shame, guilt, and resentment. Still, there are plenty of ways to mitigate the negative emotions and support yourself, including seeking professional aid from a therapist or a counsellor.

It is essential to remind yourself that you are not alone in this, and it is possible to recover from parental burnout. Here are seven effective ways to cope with parental burnout.

1. Have a Chat or Book a Consultation Session

Admitting you’re struggling can be empowering, making it all the more important to talk about how you feel. Do not consider parental burnout a taboo term. Seeing someone incredibly happy on social media does not always mean they’re not struggling. So grab your phone, call your closest friend, sister, mother, or partner, and have a vent.

This positive venting is a healthy coping mechanism to let go of all the pent-up emotions. Consulting with a certified mental health expert can also help you understand what type of support will be the most helpful. Multiple options are available, including couples therapy, individual therapy, and group therapy sessions.

2. Join a Support Group

Another helpful way to cope with parental burnout is to join a support group. Depending on the group moderators, support groups can be held in person, online, or in a hybrid model. In general, they allow for flexibility in engagement and are usually led by peers, indicating there are multiple group leaders.

A support group is not always governed by a certified mental health expert. Instead, it is led by people who have encountered similar feelings or experiences. Hence, trying out different support groups to see where you fit best is best.

3. Improve Your Self-care; Practice Self-love and Self-compassion.

Just like anything else, self-care is most important and distinct. Something that feels useful and reinvigorating to you might be terrible for somebody else. Hence, it is crucial to determine what helps you feel balanced, well-rested, and in a better state of mind.

Once you identify it, start doing those things routinely to observe an overall increase in your mental energy, which is crucial for parenting. If you find taking time for your self-care routine challenging, start with baby steps.

For instance, you can start taking 2-5 minutes every morning before checking your smartphone or running after the children to take deep breaths and think about nothing else besides yourself. Think about what makes you happy or what success means to you, and then consider what needs changing to reach there.

Most importantly, expressing self-gratitude is essential by thanking yourself for how far you’ve come in life and taking joy in what you’ve accomplished along the way.

4. Set Boundaries and Take Out Time for Yourself

If you are experiencing burnout, you should consider evaluating your timetable and prioritize the things that matter the most. Parents are often required to question their own standards. For instance, if something does not matter to you, it is best to let it go.

For parents, this can mean checking their calendar and cancelling any meetups or plans that do not feel important. Parents must determine the most important thing for them and their children and what can be paused or eliminated from their schedule to create space for parental time only.

The best way to mitigate burnout symptoms is to ensure you get ample time away from your kids. Parents often crave some alone or “me time,” especially when they are in a state of parental burnout.

This does not mean going for a long leisurely walk on the beach or seeing a movie at the cinema. Even a short, 5-minute break during the day, when you take out time just for yourself, goes a long way in alleviating burnout.

5. Listen to Music

Music is the best way to uplift your mood. Music tends to boost productivity, improve sleep, alleviate depression, enhance memory and learning, and transport you to a different time. It’s an excellent way to start your day and feels less stressed while doing home chores.

6. Get Enough Sleep

Indeed, sleep is vital for your mental health and wellbeing. Still, getting adequate sleep can be quite hard, especially with a newborn baby or young kids at home. Regardless, it would help if you prioritized sleep whenever it is possible.

For instance, take 15-20 minute power naps to restore yourself and reduce stress. Moreover, it can boost your concentration and help you control and direct your emotions more effectively.

7. Exercise

Finding and taking time to exercise might seem like a foolish suggestion, especially when one is tired and exhausted. However, exercise has proven to reduce stress and depression and boost energy levels. Physical activity tends to increase energy and elevate the body’s feel-good hormones.

Exercising doesn't necessarily signify going to the gym every day. Instead, even a 10-minute walk around the block can be highly effective in clearing your head and giving you the boost you require to reboot.

The Takeaway

So, the next time anyone invites you somewhere out, and you do not have the mental energy to go, then don’t. Learning to say no will aid in reducing burnout. Often, parental burnout can put you in a negative headspace.

Hence, it's essential to keep a positive mindset and consider it a bad day or week rather than a bad life. Most importantly, you should take some time away and take a break from your children from time to time, and if you have the option of day-care or babysitting, don’t let it go to waste.