Parenting - One of The Main Reasons for Stress in Employees

When a child is born it brings a bundle of joy and happiness as we are aware. But little do we know about the hardships the working parents have to face. Today in the article we are going to understand what are the parenting challenges working parents have to deal with.

With the bliss of watching a child grow and become a young adult, a lot of hurdles and responsibilities are taken by the working parents who are also employees. These hurdles add to parenting stress.

In a joint family, these situations ease out as they have family support. For the nuclear family, it becomes more stressful to balance work and parenting or to take care of a child which becomes more complex.

Parenting Challenges and Gender

Parenting challenges are different in terms of gender. If we talk about male employee parenting stress then being a father the major tension is financial insecurity. Fear of missing out if he has to stay away from home for a long time.

Fathers often feel that they are not able to be that involved in a child's development and miss being part of important milestones of the child.

The struggle for working mothers is a whole new ball game. They have to manage family pressure because the child is being taken care of by the family. Difficulty in saying No to not being judged by family to choose to work after a child.

Someone who is from a traditional society is easily blamed for choosing long working hours over giving less time to children.

Females many times face the dilemma of whether to continue work and take on additional responsibilities of work or sit back and continue work profile to give more time to a child. This is one of the reasons many times they let go of promotions as it brings additional responsibilities. It becomes very different for them to maintain parenting and work-life balance at the same time.

The Stress of Being a Working Parent The Common Challenges

Both genders who are working professionals avoid taking parenting responsibility and work together. For instance, going early from work at parent-teacher meetings or something else is important for parenting but trouble for work life. At times colleagues judge them for showing reasons to attend to a child and not being able to complete work targets.

Whereas, these parents keep comparing themselves with parents who are not working and feel that they are not giving enough time to their children. To avoid this guilt feeling and reduce stress, parents tend to pamper their children with gifts.

Eventually, that creates the wrong impression in the mind of a child that whatever he/she asks will be given by the parents. There is also information overload where others give unsolicited advice on how to raise a child. At times they have to face criticism from family if academics are affected. Overall, these parents are always stuck between juggling parenting and career.

Challenges faced by working parents having children with special needs

Mental health concerns for working parents having children with special needs are much worse than their counterparts. It becomes more taxing for parents as they not only have to manage work but also take their children to various therapies. During all this self-care is lost.

Many working females find it difficult to continue work as well as take their children to various treatments but financial crises to meet two ends make them work relentlessly. This later affects their physical health and invites more health problems and mood disturbance.

Often this kind of situation triggers conflicts between the couple as they feel the other partner is less contributing to the helping process. Moreover, there is a great deal of hesitation for new parents to take their children to office parties or picnics as they feel judged or others feel sorry for them.

This situation of tension also aggravates when parents are not sure how their child’s needs will be perceived by co-workers and what if the child is unable to behave or mix with counterparts.

To take care of a child better either of the parents chooses to work from home and that transition of working from office to home is many times very challenging. The individual is not able to keep work and personal life separate and often feels guilty for choosing one over the other.

After studying these concerns in detail for a long time, the best Mental Health Practitioners in India suggest the following ways to deal with mental health-related stress:

1. It's okay to say No. You are not selfish if you focus on your needs too.
2. Sometimes it's essential to be assertive to seek help from family.
3. It's okay to ask for help at the workplace as mental health and well-being is the key to productivity.
4. It's a myth to be a superwoman, responsibilities of work and child can be shared with the family
5. Being a father, it's okay to take time to get connected with a child but be with the child for whatever amount of time you have.
6. Being a father you can also help with small responsibilities of home that way your partner can get little time to unwind herself.
7. Be communicative of your needs to one another and share some time out of all the hassles of your day. Marriage is also an equally important relationship just as parenting is
8. It is not wrong to be ambitious, just seek support from each other in hard times. That's the strength of marriage.
9. Take some time out for self-care and spend time doing things that you like.
10. Seek therapy if this stress prolongs for a long time.