With students starting to get ready for the next school year, parents are getting less and less time for themselves as they juggle multiple responsibilities and schedule changes.
“I think it’s a very big problem, especially having come out of the pandemic when parents were so overwhelmed,” said Vinita Mehta, a clinical psychologist in D.C.
According to a survey of 1,500 parents of school-aged kids conducted by the market research company OnePoll, one third of parents say the first thing they think about when waking up in the morning is “I have so much to do today.”
“They wake up and it’s a fight for time every single day,” Mehta said.
Mehta said she has heard from clients in her practice that they are “overloaded” between activities, overseeing schoolwork and giving kids rides to and from school.
“Where do you even get a single breath during the day?” Mehta asked.
According to the OnePoll survey, 26% of parents most commonly feel overwhelmed more than any other emotion during the back-to-school season.
Parents struggle to adjust to varying schedules, including after-school activities.
Nearly 50% said they have a difficult time getting adequate sleep.
According to the survey, the average parent wakes up at 6:10 a.m. and spends about 64 minutes on tasks such as making breakfast, giving their kids a bath and packing school lunches.
Once parents arrive home from work, typically around 4:45 p.m., 55% said their top evening chore is tidying up the house.
Overall, parents are left with just one hour and 16 minutes to themselves, with one in five only getting an hour or less, according to the survey.
So, what can parents do to get some “me time?”
“I think part of it is a shift in mindset,” Mehta said. “You can’t create more hours in the day, so you have to set time aside and be intentional about carving out time for you.”
Mehta said that could be just 20 minutes for a walk, talking with a loved one or having a cup of tea.
Anything for a quick “reset” can be beneficial, according to Mehta.
“It’s just being realistic about what the goal is, and how much time you can take for yourself,” Mehta said. “Planning and activity planning is very, very helpful.”
