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I have a 3 yr old son. There are many things that stress me out that I search online for answers about like potty training. But my #1 stressor is continuing to work full time and not be able to take time off when he is sick or pick him up from school in emergencies. Both me and my husband worked out of State. My husband's schedule is too crazy to rely on for child care emergencies so it falls on me. I worry a lot about not having reliable childcare when my son is sick and can't go to school so I figured my best option would be to work from home and I went online researching opportunities.
So I'm curious about what other moms like me stress about and search for answers online about, whether its general parenting tips, work opportunities, or how to de-stress and get rid of mom guilt.
I just feel like sometimes moms only share success stories and feel pressured to be the perfect parent and get too embarrassed about sharing challenges.
OK, enough with my rambling. Hopefully my question makes sense.
My kids are older now, but when they were babies I worked full time, and they got sick a lot. My employer was wonderful and let me take whatever time I needed, but it was hard to keep up with my work load and the guilt of not being 100% at home or at work.
ETA By that time I had worked there for several years and had a lot of vacation time saved up. That helped. Starting over at a new job recently was hard because I didn't have the time off banked.
Last edited by Kibbiekat; 08-06-2014 at 09:24 PM..
Reliable childcare for sick children is huge stressor. We didn't have a problem until after the children became school aged because our babysitter was great and would watch the children when they were sick. However, once the kids started school, reliable childcare disappeared.
My husband and my employers only allowed us to take off work we had earned---vacation, personal days, etc.. Calling off at the last minute was a serious problem for my profession. Not so much for my husband's. But he was able to take the children to work with him occasionally, and I wasn't.
We traded off taking off when the children were sick. Then our son became very ill, and we were both risked losing our jobs if we continued because we had both exhausted our paid time off. I quit my job when our youngest was in 4th grade and became a SAHM for that reason.
My being home allowed my husband to not have to miss work due to sick children which provided the family with financial security. It's odd that's what provided us with financial security instead of two incomes. Quitting my job also provided me with great relief because juggling work and children made me feel like I wasn't fully giving enough of myself to either.
I knew I would get incredibly stressed out over sick days - plus, I just didn't want my kid to be going through all these constant illnesses from baby age, and this was the number one reason I stayed home with him. Even so, my biggest stressor as a parent is him getting sick, or getting hurt. It kills me when he's sick and not feeling well, and I also freak out about him falling off heights, running off on the street, getting injured. Especially scary are times like when he gets a fever with no other symptoms and you just need to wait it out without knowing 100% what it is. I'm grateful we got to skip daycare and he didn't get his first fever until almost three. But yea, trying to protect them from all the dangers of the world - while still letting them explore and have normal, fun childhoods - is definitely my biggest stressor
I have a 3 year old and my biggest stressor is parenting differences with her father. Everything else is pretty fine compared to that. I'm lucky because the laws here mean I don't have to worry about taking time off work when she's sick, I just call and say I'm not coming in and that's that.
More directly related to her, the biggest stressor is worrying about her social skills as she seems to be quite behind other kids her age in that area and I worry that it'll continue like that and she'll have trouble making friends etc.
My biggest stress factor is having to choose all the time between working more and thus being more stressed due to lack of time and sleep, or working less and being stressed due to lack of money.
Lack of sleep. My kids were in daycare and a home daycare place when they were younger. When they were sick I worked from home and took care of them. I am glad I went that route. My son only missed one day of Kindy last school year. I know others in his class were out almost every other week.
My biggest stress of being a parent is just the pressure of taking care of and being completely responsible for another human being's welfare. My son is only four months old and I am still adjusting to the life change. I have this aching feeling that I am not making the right decisions and doing everything wrong. I think it would help if my mother was still alive but she died about two years before my son was born and I feel so lost...
My biggest stress of being a parent is just the pressure of taking care of and being completely responsible for another human being's welfare. My son is only four months old and I am still adjusting to the life change. I have this aching feeling that I am not making the right decisions and doing everything wrong. I think it would help if my mother was still alive but she died about two years before my son was born and I feel so lost...
Don't sweat the small stuff. If you have a happy healthy baby and are doing your best to meet his needs then smile more. You're doing fine.
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