8 ways to help mothers who feel burned-out
Help celebrate the hard work that mums everywhere are doing!
Being a mother is far from easy. In fact, it's pretty damn hard. Most mums' workload gets unrecognised and unrightfully so because mums are some of the hardest working people on the planet.
With such a hefty workload, it's understandable that even the most super of supermoms can feel a bit...burned-out from time to time.
Mums know that they are doing amazing jobs as parents, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to be validated for their hard work and effort every now and then. That's why when we stumbled upon a list (originally posted by Kristin Anderson of Scary Mommy) of ways to help mothers who are burned-out, we knew had to share!
If you're not a mother, read up on how to celebrate the hard work that moms everywhere are doing! If you are a mum, let us know if you agree with the list!
Check it out:
1. Tell us we’re doing an OK job
We are doing an OK job, right? Tell us. Because pretty much all we’ve heard from our kids today is how mean we are, which is fine and mostly true, but at some point in every day we need to hear that we’re a decent person doing something positive with our kids.
2. Hold every door open for us
Chivalry knows no gender. If you happen to be in front of us and have zero little people clinging to odd parts of your body, it is your duty as a decent human being to hold the door open. We may make it look easy, but I assure you, it is not.
3. Raise nice big kids
There is nothing in the world a mother appreciates more than a nice, friendly big kid. They have the energy to play and the street cred to actually say something positive and have our kids believe it. They make our kids feel included and that makes us so happy.
4. Invite us to play
Just because we are surrounded by people all day (and much of the night) doesn’t mean we don’t get lonely. We need friends like a teenager needs a cell phone. We just forget sometimes.
5. Forgive us our weirdness
We legitimately can't help it. Being a mother involves going to the same few kid-friendly places with the bright wallpaper and cowbell music and the singing of the same nursery rhymes and the having to explain how to properly wipe one’s butt. Sometimes, we do a weird thing—we can’t help if our brain is a little off. Believe it or not, we used to be just like you.
6. Help us get personal time
My favorite part of the day is when all the kids are asleep and the husband is asleep (he goes to bed at 7 p.m. due to a huge commute) and everything is quiet. Most mothers don’t have the luxury of two hours to themselves every night. Mothers are people too. People need to be by themselves sometimes if only to sit without speaking or being spoken to.
7. Pick up everything we drop
Chances are, we have our hands full of children or groceries or industrial-sized boxed diapers. Please help us pick up that sock our child just took off and threw across the store. While it may seem like a simple act, bending over and reaching out your hand and grabbing it, it isn’t for us all the time. We appreciate the moment of help more than you’ll ever know.
8. Relate
Let us know that it is OK to burn out sometimes. That it’s OK that we sometimes cry in the shower. That it’s OK that we sometimes feel like we are doing it wrong.