Working parents are living through not merely a global pandemic but a new version of the work/life balance conundrum. Parents of school-age children all over the country are trying to manage distance learning for their kids while also keeping up with work obligations and maintaining their sanity. As psychologist Heather Beckett puts it, we’re amid a COVID-induced work/life muddle that is unlike anything we’ve experienced before.
The American Psychological Association acknowledges this crisis creates “extreme stress” and highlights that parents are reporting significantly higher stress levels than their non-parent counterparts. Recent data suggests that Google searches have shifted away from concerns around COVID itself at the beginning of the pandemic to how we can deal with everything else that comes with it.
All working parents know this is hard, but what can we actually do to make ourselves feel better? Popular go-to stress management approaches encourage us to take up meditation, start doing more yoga, or peacefully inhale a few deep breaths to recenter ourselves. Yet when the pressure is mounting, the to-do list is never-ending, and you have a child in the background playing a recorder poorly during an online music class, being encouraged to take a deep breath or stretch it out does not feel useful. It’s like telling an enraged human to calm down—it’s unlikely to be received well. Practical approaches that make a noticeable difference are what we’re all craving…
