Modern life, with all its digital interventions and opportunities has left many working Mums living life in the fast line.
With only 24 hours in a day, the laundry list for each day's tasks can become overwhelming as women balance having children and maintaining or advancing a career.
We all recognise the symptoms of feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of things on our to do list. No soon we tick a few items off, the next few are added.
Women often end up being the taxi, head chef, housekeeper, nurse and bread winner all at the same time. That's a full-time job alone without trying to also maintain romantic relationships, friendships and scheduling exercise too.
The average working Mum works a whopping 98 hours* per week, that's the equivalent to 2 full time jobs and leaves the average Mum only seven, yes just seven, minutes to themselves each day. Let's let that sink in.
It's no wonder so many Mums are feeling frazzled and overworked. When we scratch beneath the surface, it's clear to see that the issue lies in the fact that working Mums are trying to do it all and it's created a behaviour pattern which is challenging to undo. Women are attempting to parent like they don't work and work as though there are no precious cherubs at home. And it's leaving them exhausted and feeling undervalued.
Enter stage right, the art of delegation. Delegating the tasks which you don't enjoy, or don't' have time for. It's time to step up and become more like the CEO of your house, not just a worker bee employed to keep all the balls juggling neatly in the air. Take the time to look at what you can actually delegate - perhaps it's a cleaner to scrub the bathrooms, a neighbourhood teen to wash the car or walk the dog.
It's irrelevant what you delegate - this will of course differ depending on your unique circumstances, but what's important is that you try.
Of course your partner and children can and should also pitch in to reduce the mental overload of having to think and plan everything, as well as take some of the tasks off your to do list.
Creating a chore chart for your children can work wonders at taking those small, frequent tasks away from you with the added benefit of eventually producing adults who understand how a house runs. It may take a fair amount of nagging and re-doing to start but will pay dividends once they get the hang of their responsibilities and will almost certainly buy you some time back in your day.
If you would like to talk some more about how sharing the chores around your family and maybe a local service might buy back some of your sanity then please do reach out:
-call me on 0492 918 646,
-email me at kyliebellcounselling@gmail.com,
-check out the website
or reach out on my facebook group Working Parent Wins.
Let’s work together to make life easier 😊