Why Do Mothers Feel More Stress Than Fathers?

Of course, all parents and households are different, and how some deal with stress is different from others. However, studies show that fathers generally do not suffer from the same type of stress that mothers do when it comes to caring for their children.

Scientific results suggest that women tend to be more dissatisfied with their parental responsibility than men. Why is it like that? Do you recognize yourself?

Parenting involves a number of strenuous commitments. Routines, obligations and lack of personal time can be overwhelming. It seems to be much more complicated for women than for men.

We believe it has to do with many women’s need for perfection and lack of help from their partners.

What happens when two people with the same routine are out of step? In such a situation, a person is likely to do most of the work in the end. When a mother observes that her partner is not helping her or doing things properly, it can be stressful.

Most fathers also do not have to take care of their children for long periods in a row. It is usually quite temporary and it does not lead to stress.

They know that when mom comes back he will have to hand over the responsibility. However, it does not work the other way around. If mother is busy with the children and father comes, she will not be released from her duties.

What does science say about maternal stress?

The University of Cornell, USA, conducted a study together with the Minnesota Population Center. The study analyzed the time that both men and women usually take care of their children. The study was sufficient to point out the miles-wide differences.

According to research results, women not only spend more time on parenting, but it is also a more strenuous process. If it were light and completely satisfactory, it would not have a particularly negative impact on one’s nerves.

But in cases like these, it was discovered that women were significantly more stressed and less happy than men.

The researchers studied 12,000 cases. The parents’ feelings were studied according to how they used their time. The study was conducted over a three-year period.

The indicators studied were how long and what tasks were performed by mothers and fathers, respectively. They also took into account the environment in which the parents were.

Since the majority of parental responsibility is placed on the mother , the time they get to enjoy their children is reduced. Mothers did not have time to be alone with themselves. Dads tend to have free time more often than moms.

Moms enjoy less time with their children

Let’s analyze the following situation: a father comes home after a hard day’s work. Meanwhile, the mother prepares dinner and the children watch TV.

What does the father do? He often chooses to take the chance to rest or sit with the children for a while.

However, the mother does not have time for that. She has to continue cooking, then serve and clean up the kitchen. When they are finished, she has already accumulated stress from all the housework, the children’s homework and her own work.

Unfortunately, after all this, she can not take advantage of quality time either with her children or with her partner.

Situations like this can be repeated to varying degrees. For example, when a father has to take care of his child, he will probably take them to the cinema, buy ice cream or just play with them on the playground.

Moms can’t do that; they must continue to work to make the other family members happy.

It is also common for mothers to ask their partners to take their children to the park while she is washing clothes or cleaning the house. As always, we sacrifice ourselves for our family and we become unhappy with something that should really give us a lot of pleasure.

Being a mother does not make us unhappy, it is the way we practice motherhood – the demands placed on our shoulders.

The need to make sure that the family does not miss anything is what eats up our time – the time we could enjoy with them.