How to Prevent Parental Burnout

Parenthood can be rewarding but emotionally overwhelming, especially for adoptive and foster parents who are helping their child transition into a new home. This blog post will define parental burnout and discuss its causes and prevention. Read on to learn more about parental burnout and how to navigate it in your life.

What Is Parental Burnout?

Simply put, parenting burnout is when a caregiver experiences emotional exhaustion and feels mentally and physically drained. This occurs when a parent is consumed by their child’s needs, increasing their stress and neglecting their own, leaving them exhausted.

In an adoptive family, parental burnout is likely due to obstacles in merging families, reassuring the adopted child, and easing the transition. Understanding its causes and signs is important to prevent parental burnout.

Causes of Parental Burnout

As a parent, your child’s needs are at the forefront of your daily life. Caring for your little ones can be exhausting, from bathing to feeding and everything in between. These feelings don’t make you a bad parent. Here are the most common causes of parental burnout:

Trying to be a “perfect parent”
A lack of external support, such as a nanny, daycare, or extended family
Financial hardship
A hectic work schedule
Single parenting
Overscheduling extracurricular activities
Children’s supplementary needs

These factors significantly impact the energy spent caring for your child. While some may play a larger role, they can all add up and leave you feeling exhausted.

Burnout Symptoms

Symptoms vary per individual. However, the most common symptoms of parental burnout are:

Depression
Irritability
Lack of sleep
Anxiety
Crying spells
Lack of clear thoughts (mental clutter)
Job burnout (for a working parent)
Emotional Distancing
Parental Ineffectiveness
Escape ideation

It is important to note that symptoms may overlap and change over time. If you notice any of the symptoms mentioned, consider the following steps to prevent parental burnout and regain control over the situation at hand.

6 Steps to Preventing Parental Burnout

To prevent parental burnout, take small steps in the right direction. It’s not a situation that can be fixed overnight, but the following six steps will help create more emotional space and availability.

1. Take Time for Yourself

Parental burnout signals that your needs are being neglected. Finding time for yourself, especially with multiple children, is difficult for most parents. However, even 5-10 minutes daily will significantly improve your life.

Possible relaxation and self-care times are after the kids go to bed, early in the morning, or during your lunch break. Good starts are 5-minute meditations, stretching routines, or 5 minutes of peace and quiet. Looking for more quick self-care options? Here are 75 self-care activities that take 5 minutes or less.

2. Ask for Help

Another key step to preventing parental burnout is to ask for help. People tend to want to complete tasks independently, especially parents from individualistic cultures. However, doing so can drain our emotional, mental, and physical capacity, leaving us exhausted.

Asking for help can mean asking a nearby parent to carpool to school a few times a week or a family member to help with the kids. Many people are willing to help.

3. Be Self-Compassionate

When you’re emotionally exhausted, the last thing you want is to be hard on yourself. Recognizing you’re doing your best and patting yourself on the back for your efforts is crucial in preventing parental burnout. Become your own support system and watch the burnout diminish.

4. Have an Accountability Partner

Having someone hold you accountable for prioritizing your needs will significantly help prevent parental burnout. A quick weekly check-in can keep you on track with your personal goals as a parent.

5. Rearrange Your Child’s Schedule and Activities

Lastly, consider rearranging your child’s schedule and activities. Summer family activities can stretch your plate very thin, so avoid over-scheduling. Create healthy and manageable daily routines for kids. Sometimes, things add up quickly, and you don’t realize how hectic your child’s schedule is until you check the calendar. If this occurs, prioritize mental and emotional health and cut one or two activities. A more open schedule for your child reduces your stress as well.

6. Support Your Child’s Mental Well-Being

If your child needs more attention and is acting out, you can teach them self-care or seek help from mental health services. All For Kids provides mental health tools and services for ages 0-21. With an incredible team and resources, All For Kids also offers individualized services for children who have transitioned out of foster care.

Reducing Burnout and Increasing Presence

Parenting is a lifelong journey. By incorporating the steps to prevent parental burnout, you’re taking better care of yourself and your children.

Sources:

https://sydnord.com/acts-of-self-care/

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/04/22/why-asking-for-help-is-so-hard-and-how-to-get-better-at-it.html