We always love our children. And any good parent would never believe otherwise. Kids are blessings. They bring with them a lot of joy, love, and warmth. They are a great source of love and affection – and they can really serve as the glue for a family even without really intending to do so. But it’s no secret that having kids means taking on more responsibilities as an adult. And sometimes, having to deal with these responsibilities can be very stressful.
There are so many parents out there who can really be driven nuts by their own kids. Imagine having to go to work to make sure that you have food to bring home to the table. And once you get home, you have to look after your children and deal with their own problems as well. It can really drain a person’s energy having to look after a child – especially those newborns. You have to be in charge of feeding, bathing, changing, cleaning, soothing, and putting them to sleep. Yes, you still love them and you would do anything for them. But that doesn’t make you immune to all the stress that you feel taking care of them.
That’s why there are so many parents out there who stay at home and take care of their kids full-time and yet still immensely stressed in their lives.
There is a lot of judgment and stigma attached to parents who just stay at home to take care of their kids. They are judged for not doing enough to bring more money into the household. But actually, taking care of a child can be just as stressful as going to work. There is so much emotional, mental, and physical energy that is exhausted when taking care of a baby. And stay-at-home parents should definitely be taken seriously. No one should be taking their jobs lightly at all.
That is why a lot of moms on maternity leave just can’t wait to get back to work. They spend all day with their kids and you might think that it would be a vacation. But it really isn’t… far from it, in fact.
A survey was recently conducted in the United Kingdom that showed that a lot of parents are more stressed about staying at home with their kids than actually going to work. The survey was conducted by AVEENO Baby, and they looked into the lives of 1,500 moms and dads from various industries and backgrounds all around England.
These were the findings of the surveys:
- 31% of people confirmed that staying at home with kids can be just as stressful as going to work.
- 40% said that they stopped judging new parents after having their first child.
- 25% said that having a baby is easy.
- 39% of parents said that they were always feeling exhausted.
- 55% of parents said that having a baby is difficult even with a strong support system.
- 71% of parents believed that social media has made the act of parenting more competitive and stressful.
- 27% of parents think that there is a lot of pressure for them to be perfect.
- 9% of parents constantly worry about their children’s sleeping patterns.
And lastly, 42% of parents agreed that they had experienced the true meaning behind unconditional love when they had their first babies.
“Becoming a parent is an amazing experience, but we understand that entering this new chapter of life can also bring with it a great deal of stress and worry, so we wanted to discover more about what new parents experience in the first few years, what they wish they had known and how best we can support them,” commented Rebeca Bennet from Aveeno Baby in an interview.
Whatever the case, it’s not too hard to figure out that having kids is not an easy task. But regardless of the stresses or pressures that come with having children, it’s always a blessing and a gift to be able to bring a child into this world and raise them to be upright human beings.
Beautifully said