The health crisis has not helped the daily life of some homes! Home schooling during confinement, homework, discipline … Many parents quickly get overwhelmed by their family lives and lose control over their children. This disease has a name, although it is difficult to talk about it at the risk of being judged on its role as a parent, it is parental burnout. "Mom and Dad crack", the episode of Restricted zone of Sunday February 7, 2021, aims to lift the veil on these families who find themselves helpless in the face of their children's whims. The show tells us that there are more and more solutions to help families find each other, such as therapy and even relief centers. For a year, Ophelia Meunier and its teams followed the daily life of several families, including Laetitia and David, parents of Tyron, 5 years old. Living in Seine-et-Marne, the young couple no longer has any control over the boy who does as he pleases, even going so far as to want to do battle with his own father."I'm leaving", said the boy, taking his jacket and heading for the door. "He says the same thing as us, it's under anger", explains Laetitia, the young mother, exhausted by the behavior of her son. "When we are strict it does not go, when we are not strict it does not go either", deplores David, the father, completely overwhelmed, too, by the events.
Parental burn-out on M6: in the infernal daily life of parents
"One day I couldn't stand up, my body froze. My doctor took me several months off work so that I could rest. He told me I literally imploded ", confesses Alba, 36 years old. This mother of four that the team of Restricted zone followed does not have a moment for herself and is crushed by the weight of the mental load, of her professional life and of the daily tasks at home, as explained The HuffPost.
While there are few figures on parental burnout in France, it is estimated to affect between 5 and 8% of parents in Belgium, according to a study conducted by the Catholic University of Louvain in 2019. "The pressure on parents has never been greater and the time they have for parenting has never been so limited. We can suppose that burnout will only increase in prevalence", says Moïra Mikolajczak, researcher in psychology and co-author of the book Parental burnout, how to avoid it and get out of it (Ed. Odile Jacob, 15.99 euros).
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