‘Super Hero’ women are crumbling under pandemic strain

The pandemic has caused a lot of added pressure to families since it sprang up in late 2019. Women have for the most part born the brunt of the necessary changes brought about by Covid-19. 90% of nurses in the USA are women according to the NCSBN, and many frontline workers are also female.

Throw onto the strain of being a frontline worker during the pandemic child care needs, which are usually the responsibility of women, and the strain of striking a balance gets a lot harder. Many women are finding it difficult to cope with everyone working or schooling from home, and most of the load going to them.

Although much of the strain from the pandemic is unavoidable, there are a few things you can do to relieve pressure.

Make Bed Time Sacred

Being a super hero mom is already a strain, but it gets a lot harder when you don’t get enough sleep. Set an alarm for your bed time, and when it goes off treat it as seriously as you would your wake up alarm.

With more sleep, you’ll be able to handle the ups and downs of the pandemic with more strength than you would if you went to bed at 1AM trying to do it all.

Delegate

Many people, especially partners and children in your own family, don’t actually notice how much work you are doing. If it’s too much, find a way to delegate some of the work. Do you have an older child who can sit next to a younger one and make sure they at least stay clothed during their Zoom? Make it happen.

Ask your spouse to handle the dishes, do the laundry, or what ever tasks you need help with to make the home run smoothly. When you don’t ask for help, the general assumption is you’re doing fine with the work load. Speak up before the load gets too big to handle.

Log out

The pandemic has forced most of us to be on a screen much more than we naturally would. Unplug if you can every day. Although carving out screen free time during the day is important, make it your priority a couple of hours before bed. This will help improve your ability to sleep, and also help you wind down and relax for the end of the day.

Being a mother during the pandemic is hard. Women are most at risk to lose their job due to the difficulties of finding child care and other hard hitting problems. They’re also usually the ones stuck with the majority of problems caused by Covid, such as dealing with at-home schooling, and keeping the house clean with everyone working from home.