Page 10 - ParentsWorld March 2020 flipbuilder

nurturing 21st century children

cover

story

Managing the parenting

sTREss CRIsIs

Psychologists the world over are warning that chronic
parental stress can lead to burnout with disastrous
consequences for children

JayaLaKShMi vaidyanathan & Mini P.

“Parental stress is a distinct type of stress that arises when a morning wash and Rakhi Vashist
parent’s perception of the demands of parenting outstrip his getting them ready for
or her resources.” — Carina Coulacoglou & Donald H. school, packing the
Saklofske (Psychometrics and Psychological Assessment, 2017) school lunch, commut-
ing and even uttering
ost parents are unaware that high stress they the words “hurry up”
experience juggling household chores, child more than 500 times
rearing duties, children’s school and co-cur- per year.
Mricular activities schedules, the workplace, Rakhi Vashist,
friends and family daily, is now a classified mental health a Bangalore-based
condition. Psychologists the world over are warning that fashion industry pro-
chronic parental stress can lead to burnout with disastrous fessional and mother
consequences for children. of a 15-year-old, is
In the new era of all-pervasive social media, the pres- conscious of the price
sure millennial parents experience to live up to media of multi-tasking which
glorification of super-parents has intensified. A 2018 is draining her and adversely affecting her physical well-
survey of 2,000 parents by the well-known Michigan-based being and workplace productivity. “I am becoming increas-
breakfast food/cereals multinational Kellogg Company, ingly aware of the toll extracted by never-ending parenting
found that parents clock the equivalent of a full day’s work duties and its impact on my professional work. Now with
(ten hours) per week getting their children ready for school. my son writing the class X boards, I am experiencing
The total number of routine tasks a parent performs every greater than ever pressure of being the ideal, supportive
morning adds up to 43, including supervising children’s mother. The onus that he prepares and performs well in

parentsworld • march 2020 10