Parental burnout is real. If you often feel exhausted or regularly feel overwhelmed and off-balance due to your day-to-day mum experience, your feelings are valid and well understood. Parenting is hard; from being a chef to switching in between other activities like home-schooling and running the household for an entire year, makes parental burnout inevitable. However, even though we expend a tremendous amount of energy, the end product brings fulfilment.  What matters is learning to manage burnouts and stress to help you squeeze in energy and perspective to be the parent you want to be.  And it will pay dividends for your health and ability to function well.

Here are a few tips for managing burnout as a parent.

Tip 1: Stop trying to be the perfect parent

There is no such thing as perfect parents. So, trying so hard to be one is an unrealistic goal, and it can be very exhausting. You don’t have to be flawless “can do all’’ supermom to raise extraordinary kids. Do not put so much pressure on yourself in the name of being a perfect parent. Just do you and stay the course. Adopt an effective parenting strategy that will assure fulfilment, joy, and best moments for the whole family.

Tip 2:Ask for help and support

Are you that parent that never asks for help? This could be the reason why you are burned out. Utilize supports you already have in place or seek new ones. This can mean calling on partners, grandparents, friends, or babysitters to provide you with a bit of rest time from the kids. Do this more often to recuperate. Do not exhaust yourself by not asking for help or support. You will be surprised at the number of people that are willing to be of assistance.

Tip 3:Make time for yourself

A ‘’Me’’ time never hurts.  Prioritizing time for yourself could make a big difference and could relieve you of the overwhelming feeling. You can start by taking 10 minutes or more each day doing something for yourself. It could be reading a book or a little self-care routine or watching your favourite TV shows, or even taking a nap. This could relax your nerves and make you feel less stressed. The truth is that you cannot take care of others when you are running empty. Therefore, you must not let the stress of parenting weigh you down.

Tip 4:Tell your kids you need a break

Talk to your kids and make them understand that you have needs too, be honest with them and let them know you also need to rest, and it is okay, make them see that it might not be every night you would read them a bedtime story because you would need to rest properly too and get set for the next day. Just be sure to reassure them they are a big part of your support and happiness, not the cause of the problem. Showing kids our weaknesses is a sign of strength because no one is perfect, and we would be doing no good to our kids to let them think we are not affected by everything that is going on. Being honest gives them permission to share when they are feeling burned out, too, while setting an example that asking for help is never wrong.

The key to managing burnout is finding the right balance, and this will help you function well and consistently offer love as a parent. This balance is simply meeting the family needs while not neglecting yourself in the process. This is how you can effectively manage yourself and win the war against burnout. 

Receive our weekly newsletter and stay updated with top parenting tips and hacks. Click here to subscribe.