Survey Says Being a Mother of Three Causing the Most Stress for Mothers
If you’re a mother of three you probably can relate that “three” is the magic word for stress. New celeb parents of three Prince William and Kate Middleton along with Kanye West and Kim Kardashian West joined the three kid club this year and probably found out pretty quickly their stress level jumped a great deal.
But the question is why? Why are three children any more stressful for mothers than two or say four?
Today Parents conducted a survey of more than 7000 U.S. mothers in 2013 and the results came back that mothers of three are far more stressed than mothers of one and two while mothers of four or more stress levels are actually lower. Some refer to it as the Duggar effect when you reach a certain amount of kids mothers are forced to not micromanage as much and their stress levels actually decrease.
The big question is what is stressing mothers out so much? Besides raising kind and well-rounded children mothers are often stressed about money, balancing home life with work life and their husbands. A lot of women feel like their husband is like having another child in the house but just bigger.
But the big underlying stress for mothers comes within. 75 percent of mothers in the survey say they are their hardest critic and put massive amounts of pressure on themselves. Mothers today are striving for perfection driven from judgment they get from other mothers.
“Scary Mommy” creator and author of “Motherhood Comes Naturally (And Other Vicious Lies)” Jill Smokler has three kids herself and agrees it’s the most stressful number.
“Going from one to two was an easy, breezy transition. Two to three, everything was turned upside down. I did not feel like I had it together…just crossing the street and not being able to physically hold all their hands I found tremendously stressful.”
Mothers today are putting their kids before themselves more than ever. Forget your favorite hobby before you had kids or that book you used to read before going to bed. Now you’re reading your children’s favorite pick and you’re lucky if you even got a daily shower in.
Dr. Janet Taylor a psychiatrist in New York says mom stress is something she hears about daily in her practice. Taylor is a mother of four and agrees with the survey
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