Common Stressors Faced By Mothers

Mothers say that their children bring joy, love, and countless gifts to our lives, and there is no deeper bond than that between mother and child. Nevertheless, along with the sole commitment to nurture another human being from infancy to adolescence into adulthood comes an added load of stress.

The stress that comes with motherhood can be significant importance in a woman’s life. Every mother will likely face stressors unique to their family and children, many stressors experienced are universal. Feeling alone, feelings of anxiety are commonly faced by many women globally

A few common stressors for mothers are:

• Time: Children require nurturing and constant care which is ideally provided by the mother. Apart from children, a lot of women may need to fulfil the demands of other household members. Caring and fulfilling these demands take up a lot of time and therefore most mothers feel there is a lack of time. The time demands of various responsibilities vary on a daily basis which may make them feel there aren’t enough hours in a day to finish all the chores. There seem to be a million important activities which need to be finished and at the end of the day, mothers may not get enough time to finish all the tasks.
• Misbalanced Relationships: Mothers mainly invest all the necessary or more than necessary time into the upbringing, caring and mother-child relationship with their children. Once all this time is invested, it may cause a misbalance in other relationships. This takes place specially when the children are young and need extra care, attention and time. This misbalance can make it hard to split their time among everyone. Mothers may be unable to make time for their work, friends and even the rest of the family which may pose to be an extra tension.
• Uncertainty: At some point in time, every mother feels that she is not doing a good job, she is not doing enough for her child and the family. Behavioural patterns and needs are unique to every child and adapt as they grow. With the child constantly learning and crossing developmental milestones on almost a daily basis, mothers have to constantly reevaluate the next steps. It’s easy for mothers to question themselves, and become stressed by the consequences of making a mistake. It’s all part of being a conscientious mother.
• Instincts: Every mother has protective instincts for their child or children. They wan to protect their children from all prospects of risks and jeopardy. From infancy to adolescence into adulthood every person is faced with a numbers of anxiety provoking situations and this is a cause of stress for every mother too. A child’s behaviour, developmental milestones are all a challenge combatted by mothers. These instincts seem to have a high empathy quotient which allows them to put themselves into every or most situation(s) faced by their child.
• Financial Stress:  Children may pose a stress financially. While children are more than worth the expense, parents do tend to face greater financial stress. This added stress pushes many mothers to avoid expenses on nannies and tutors and try and manage everything themselves.

 All the above mentioned problems (as well as several others) have various solutions but one common solution to help solve them to a certain extent is time alone. Many mothers report that they feel alone and  ind it difficult to make time and save energy to care for themselves. They don’t get enough time to unwind, relax, feel at ease and be heard. Many mothers need this time to be alone, connect with themselves and reflect. Caring for themselves will allow them to care for others.

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