Motherhood Is Actually the Equivalent of Working 2.5 Full Time Jobs, Study Says

Do you hear that yawn? That’s the sound of a mom waking up. She’s not waking up to an alarm clock. She’s not waking up leisurely, ready to take on the day. She’s waking up to her kids.

If you’re a mom, you’re tired, and you feel like you’re busy all the time. Those are pretty universal truths. Sure, you love your kids and would do anything for them. You also love spending time with your kids (for the most part, nobody enjoys tantrums), but you’re busy, you’re tired, and you’d really time to go shopping without the kids or to get your nails done or to get a massage.

A new study by Welch’s finally tells us just why we feel like this whole job of motherhood is never ending. It’s because it’s the equivalent of working 2.5 full time jobs. Yes, that’s a lot of work, and we’re not talking about moms who have babies and are waking up in the middle of the night every night. Oh, no, we’re talking about moms who have school-aged children.

The study surveyed 2,000 moms who had children between the ages of 5 and 12 years old. The women shared their weekly schedule and how they manage to make it work.

On average, moms started their work day at 6:23am and ended their work day at 8:31pm. That’s an average of a 14-hour work day, which equals 98 hours per week. Yup, moms don’t get weekends off. That’s a 7-day work-week.

Let’s be honest, ladies. The workday never really ends. Even at 8:31pm we’re still thinking about kid-related tasks like planning birthday parties in our heads or wondering if we need to get our kiddo new shoes since they seem to be getting a little tight.

Welch’s conducted the study because they want to help families find easy ways to provide their families with nutritious options. Casey Lewis, MS, RD and Health & Nutrition Lead at Welch’s, said, “The results of the survey highlight just how demanding the role of mom can be and the non-stop barrage of tasks it consists of.”

One of the things that women found stressful was finding nutritious meals and snacks that their picky eaters would actually eat. In fact, 72% of the moms said that it was difficult to get their family to eat healthy food. Meanwhile, 64% of the moms said it was hard to find healthy drinks. They felt pressure to feed their families fruits and vegetables, but they admitted to sometimes resorting to drive-thrus.

Lewis said, “Anything that can be done to make mom’s life a little bit easier can make all the difference, whether it’s a well-timed, healthy snack, a small glass of 100% fruit juice or simply the chance to grab a nap.”

Some of the lifesavers that women mentioned were iPads, yoga pants, babysitters, coffee and Netflix. Other things that made it into the top 20 list of lifesavers were reliable grandparents, toys in the car and drinking wine.

Coffee in the morning. Wine at night. No mom-shaming here.

For more about this new study, watch the video below.

 

Does it surprise you to learn that the average mom works 98 hours per week? If you’re a mom, what are some of your lifesavers?