Well ladies, the data is in and it appears that American moms aren't faring so well. Oh, we're doing just fine in our mothering... Our kids adore us and choose us as the person they admire most. Their test scores are up, and spending time with us is what makes them the happiest . What we are flunking is a critical subject: "How to take care of ourselves." This should come as little surprise, but a whopping 96% of moms feel they are far more stressed than their own mothers. Reports say moms today are constantly sleep-deprived, caffeine addicted, chronically fatigued, and lonely.
So what's causing this new Lonely Mother's Club trend? Here are a few changes over these last years that have reduced our crucial mommy support systems, leaving us feeling more alone and stressed:
- Moms working at home. More moms work at home to be with kids, but there goes the co-workers
- Single moms. 4 in 10 moms are "single" parents; 36% of all births are from unmarried women
- Divorce. 1 in 2 kids will live with a single-parent family at some point in their childhood
- Military deployment. More parenting partners are now deployed than in last 40 years
- Time. We spend more time per week with kids: 14.1 hours in 2007 vs. 10.2 hours in 1965
- Working dads. Longer hours away, business travel
- Mobility. "The job search" uproots families further away from grandparents and relatives
- Crunched economy. Moms cut back as finances get tighter
- Less female support. At the end of the 19th century nearly 50% of mothers lived with another female, such as a mother or sister, who helped with housework and child rearing. That number is now down to 20%.
So what's the solution to cure the lonely mom syndrome? It's time for moms to start up their momtourage
