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Mental Health for Parents

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Mental Health for Parents

Being a parent is both a pleasure and if we’re honest, exhausting at times. There’s the unspeakable joy in watching your heart beat outside your chest as your children grow and develop their unique personalities. On the other hand, there’s also the pressure to create a happy and happy home. If you’re working outside the home, there’s the added pressure of work, looking after your aging parent, and a host of tasks and responsibilities on your to-do list. You’re always putting the needs of others before your own. But this can be detrimental to your mental health and overall well-being. Here are a few things you can do to prioritise your mental health as a parent.

Understanding mental health

According to the World Health Organization, mental health is “a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with the stresses of life, realize their abilities, learn well and work well, and contribute to their community”. Mental health is a basic human right and it underpins an individual’s well-being, and ability to make decisions and build strong and healthy relationships. Each person experiences mental health differently and in varying degrees with different outcomes.

Moms, dads, and carers shoulder a lot of responsibility. A lack of support or inability to manage the stresses of being a parent can make an individual experience mental health issues and a lower sense of well-being.

Factors affecting parental mental health

There is not one cause attributed to causing mental health issues. Each person responds to situations and circumstances differently but there are some overarching issues that affect parental mental health. These and many other factors contribute to poor mental health in parents.

  • The residual effects of the covid-19 lockdown
  • Ill health of family members (aging parents, siblings, children)
  • Work pressure
  • Financial instability or loss of income
  • Being unable to work
  • Relational challenges
  • Putting others first at the expense of their own needs and well-being

Impact on parents’ mental health

Parenting requires a lot of time and sacrifice. It comes with its fair of challenges that have an impact not on their mental well-being, but that of their children and families. In certain cases, parents who struggle with their mental health can experience difficulties in looking after the physical and emotional well-being of their child/ren.  In extreme cases, this can be a prolonged period.

Juggling balls

An interesting concept about how to balance work and family life. We are all juggling balls in the air. Some of these balls are plastic (and will bounce back when dropped). Other balls are made of glass (and will break if dropped). What you need to do is decide which of the balls you’re juggling are plastic and which are made of glass. If you drop a plastic ball (cleaning the house), it’s okay. You can tackle the pile of dishes in the sink tomorrow. If you drop self-care (making time for your mental health), the consequences can be detrimental. Decide what’s most important and take care of that first.

Tips to improve your mental health

An often not spoken fact about mental health is the importance of putting a spotlight on it – talking about it and your personal challenges. And seeking help. Here are a few other helpful steps you can take to improve your mental health.

As a parent, we want to be strong for our children. We tend to hide negative emotions and put on a perfect exterior. We do this with the hope that we’re protecting our child/ren, but instead, it often ends up with children not being about to communicate freely when they experience negative emotions or sentiments.

What you should do instead is be honest and open about your feelings so that you can explain to your children it’s normal to have such emotions and why they may be feeling low.

Added to that, you should also talk to your partner, friends, family member, or therapist. Talk therapy releases bottled emotions, provides you with a safe space to share your feelings, and gives you tools to help you work through your emotions.

  •       Create a support network

A lot of times, we as parents live under the impression that we can do it alone. We are superheroes who want to do it all. The truth is, no man is an island, and we were not designed to do this life thing alone. We need support.  It’s important to have a strong and reliable support network that you can call on. These are the people who can give you the practical and emotional support you need when the load gets too heavy, and you feel overwhelmed.

Getting physical doesn’t mean you should spend hours in the gym. This can be as simple as making time every day to take a 30-minute walk outside (take the kids along if you can). Go outside. Take in nature. Breathe in the fresh air. And for that set time, you are away from the noise of things that need to get done and you can clear your head. Other activities to consider are swimming, jogging, taking a yoga or pilates class, or even dancing. Whatever you choose to do, get your body moving and your happy hormones running through your bloodstream.

  •       Pursue your passions

As parents, we often feel guilty about making time to do things that make us happy. When we have children, we put our dreams and passions to the side and focus all our attention on the kids and family. No matter how old you get, or how busy life is, we must be intentional about pursuing our passions and doing things that make us feel alive and bring us joy. Pursuing your passions, albeit not always to the same degree as before you had children, is an outlet. These help you not lose sight of yourself and your dreams (these may have just changed). Spending time on your passion will not only make you feel good about yourself, but it will be an example to your children that self-care is an important part of parenthood, and of course. Finally, the joy this brings you will improve your mental health.

Final thoughts

This list is by no means exhaustive. It’s important to remember as a parent that no two homes are alike. We are all different. With different needs, challenges, skills, commitments, and family structures. What works for one person’s family won’t necessarily work for yours. Therefore, it’s important to look at your setup and make changes that will suit you and your family. It’s also important to remember that no matter what it looks like on the outside, no family is perfect.

  • Get organised.
  • Learn a new skill or take up a new hobby.
  • Learn to say “no”. (It’s a full sentence).

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, measure your mental health and well-being today on our free mental health check-up assessment to live a happier, healthier, and more productive life tomorrow!

As it’s often said, “you can’t pour from an empty cup”. It’s just as important for you as a parent to invest in your mental health.

Should Award Shows Eliminate Gendered Categories?

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Some think the prizes for best male artist and best female artist should simply be “best artist.” Would this approach be more inclusive, or less?

Word of the Day: fusillade

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This word has appeared in 21 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

What’s Going On in This Picture? | March 6, 2023

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Look closely at this image, stripped of its caption, and join the moderated conversation about what you and other students see.

A train station that transports us to the medieval past

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onlinefreecourse
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Building towards the future, many times we manage to return to the past. This case is precisely that of the archaeological ruins that are obtained from time to time in excavations or other types of earthworks or buildings.

 

An example is the North-South metro line in Amsterdam, which was very challenging to build: a 15-year operation that went over budget and involved carefully digging under the foundations of centuries-old architecture.

 

The result of this discovery and a very careful job is that locals and travelers can now enjoy a unique site, an underground medieval museum that allows them to better understand its past.

 

An article published on CNN about this impressive work explains what the project was like: “For the archaeologists tasked with sifting through the soft mud to preserve any history disturbed by the massive engineering project, it was no easy task either. Their potentially dangerous work was carried out inside pressurized concrete boxes to prevent flooding in the ubiquitous waterways of the Dutch capital.

 

Today, the fruits of their underground labors can be seen at Rokin Station, one of eight stops on the route that features an impressive underground archaeological museum, with nearly 10,000 artifacts on display. Worth visiting for its uniqueness, the station is a testament not only to the rich heritage on which Amsterdam was built but also to the engineers and archaeologists who worked so hard to preserve it”.

 

Archaeologist Peter Kranendonk explained that this construction provided the opportunity to dig under the city to a depth of 30 meters, finding very ancient elements, such as mollusk shells dating back more than 115,000 years.

 

The Rokin Station exhibits are organized thematically: food, science and technology, for example. Allowing passers-by to gain insight into Amsterdam’s past.

 

 

An exciting and unusual project

 

Hoite Detmar, who served as the director of the North-South metro project from 2016 until its completion, commented on the process. “This was not a normal excavation,” he says. “Usually, the excavation is done before building. But in this case, the construction plans were already finalized. So we had to become part of the existing process. The civil engineering team was building, and we were digging”.

 

Declared an engineering feat by its developers, this ambitious project, the six-mile-long route, of which 4.5 miles are underground, and passes under the historic city center, opened in 2018. Although not It was a project that was well received in principle, the section transports around 120,000 passengers every day.

 

The project was plagued with many engineering challenges that led to a doubling of the construction budget from €1.4bn to €3.1bn, plus a 7-year delay as the initial launch date was 2011.

 

 

The discovery of ruins from the past are findings that provide the population with information about the past that would be impossible to obtain without digging and going deeper.

 

Currently, the oldest ruin in the world is the prehistoric complex of Gobekli Tepe, located in Turkey, which is made up of megalithic stone ruins that are about 11,000 years old.

 

Just to name a few of the most important findings, we can name:

 

If this topic interests you, you will have a lot of fun finding some very interesting information in the following articles:

 

Amstel, Spiegel van de Stad” (Amstel, Mirror of the City)

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS OF THE NORTH / SOUTHLINE

Art and War

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These pieces are made by children of Ukraine. What do you think they are communicating?

Would You Want to Be a Social Media Star?

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Have you ever dreamed of turning a following into a career?

Wild Creatures

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Tell us a story, real or made up, that is inspired by this GIF.

Word of the Day: desolation

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This word has appeared in 35 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year. Can you use it in a sentence?

10 Ubiquitous Tech Products Built By Women Engineers

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10 Ubiquitous Tech Products Built By Women Engineers

Each time you turn on your home computer, connect to a WiFi network, or type something in a word processing app, you have a woman to thank. These applications and devices are so ingrained in the way we work and live in the modern world, and they were all built by women engineers.

In the early days of programming and computing, many women’s contributions and achievements in the field were overlooked or dismissed. For Women’s History Month, we’re recognizing the women technologists who’ve played a huge role in shaping our technological landscape and are responsible for much of the tech we use today. Check out this list of some of the most innovative, women-created tech — and if you feel inspired to learn the skills you need to create something yourself, check out our catalog of programming courses to learn how.

Learn something new for free

1. Personal Computers

Mary Wilkes became one of the first professional computer programmers after graduating from college in 1959. While working at MIT’s Digital Computer Group, she played a key role in the development of the Laboratory Instrument Computer (LINC), which many recognize as the world’s first personal computer (or at least the foundation for personal computers).

Mary Wilkes wrote the code for the LINC’s operating system, system software, console prototype, and more. “We were a bunch of nerds,” she told The New York Times Magazine, describing the LINC team. “We were a bunch of geeks. We dressed like geeks. I was completely accepted by the men in my group.” (After a successful tech career, Mary went on to graduate from Harvard Law School and launch a new career as a lawyer, arbitrator, and eventual judge — NBD.)

2. Computer Programs

Ada Lovelace was a countess, the daughter of a famous poet, and a pioneer of computing and telecommunications during the Industrial Revolution. She’s known as the first computer programmer for her translation (and expansion) of a French description of the Analytical Engine, which later became known as the first computer program. Along with her technical prowess, Ada was also hailed as a visionary because she was one of the first people to apply computing outside of mathematics.

3. Modern Computers

During WWII, the U.S. Army commissioned six women to program a giant computer designed to improve military calculations: The Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC). These women — Betty Holberton, Jean Jennings Bartik, Kay McNulty, Marlyn Wescoff Meltzer, Ruth Licterman, and Frances Bilas Spence — came to be known as the ENIAC Six. While their contributions were overshadowed at the time, their work laid the foundation for the development of the UNIVAC, the world’s first mass-produced computer.

Beyond programming the ENIAC, their collective accomplishments also include contributing to the development of the UNIVAC, the COBOL and FORTRAN programming languages, and the development of the hydrogen bomb.

4. Word Processing Software

Before there was Google Docs and Microsoft Word, technologist Evelyn Berezin developed one of the first sophisticated computerized reservations systems for United Airlines in 1961. Then, she went on to found the company that produced the first computerized word processor with text recording and playback and cut and paste features, called the Data Secretary.

5. Inverse Document Frequency (IDF)

Karen Spärck Jones was a British computer scientist who revolutionized human-computer interaction. While looking for ways to improve how humans and computers communicate, she recognized that computers struggled with understanding words with several meanings. So, she used statistics and linguistics to create the inverse document frequency (IDF), which helped teach computers how to understand the relationships between words. This same formula is used in many modern search engines (like Google). Her work also helped pave the way for natural language processing and even buzzy technology like the AI chatbot ChatGPT.

6. Atari Games

Remember the old school gaming console Atari? The first Atari VCS games were developed by Carol Shaw. After graduating from UC Berkeley with multiple degrees in engineering and computer science, she became one of the first woman Game Developers in 1978. Along with classics like 3-D Tic-Tac-Toe and Video Checkers, she also created Activision’s River Raid in 1982.

What’s more: whereas today’s Game Developers usually focus on one part of development (like design or asset creation), Carol built most of her games herself! “In those days, one person would do the entire game: the design, the programming, the graphics and sound,” she told Vintage Computing. “Then you’d get feedback from the other designers, but basically one person did the whole thing.”

7. GPS, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth

Hedy Lamarr was an actress who starred in movies in the mid-1900s. When she wasn’t captivating audiences on film, she was doing scientific experiments and research to kill time between shoots. During WWII, Hedy developed a groundbreaking new communication system and method of transmitting and receiving radio signals that was designed to help guide military torpedoes. Later, this technology was used to build GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth.

8. Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs)

Adele Goldberg discovered a passion for computer science after landing an internship with IBM in college. She taught herself to code and earned several postgraduate degrees in Information Science. After working her way up to a leadership position at Xerox, she led the team that developed the Smalltalk-80 programming language that was used to create the first GUIs. Later, she shared her invention with Steve Jobs, and it ultimately helped inspire the creation of the Macintosh operating system and user interface.

9. Hybrid Car Batteries

Annie Easely was a programmer and rocket scientist for NASA. As one of the first Black women in her field, she helped develop more sustainable tech and paved the way for stellar voyages. After teaching herself to code with SOAP and FORTRAN, she studied alternative energies and helped inform the creation of hybrid car batteries in the 1970s. She also helped write the code for the Centaur, NASA’s rocket that’s been used to launch several spacecrafts over the past few decades.

10. Digital Matchmaking

In 1964, Joan Ball set the stage for online dating by creating St. James Computer Dating Service (later renamed Com-Pat, short for Computerized Compatibility). Her innovative tech ran punch cards filled out by participants through a computer to find potential matches. Remember: This was well before dating apps like Tinder and even social networking. Joan Ball was one of the first people to combat the stereotypes around computerized dating services.

Want to learn more about inspiring women technologists? Check out our blog posts about some of the leading women in tech.

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