Lockdown in the UK has presented enormous challenges for women and families whose day-to-day lives were transformed virtually overnight. But mothers specifically have been hit the hardest with experts dubbing this ‘the pandemic parenting penalty’.
- Impact on careers | During the lockdown, parents were nearly twice as likely to be furloughed (13.6%) as those without children (7.2%). They were 47% more likely than fathers to have permanently lost their job or resigned due to childcare issues, were more likely to be furloughed for longer, had worse perceptions of job security and had were more likely to say they were struggling to pay their bills.
- During the first weeks of lockdown women were carrying out on average two-thirds more of the childcare duties per day than men and many working mothers were only able to do an hour of uninterrupted paid work for every three hours done by fathers and there were more likely to be fitting their work around their childcare obligations, essentially working in the morning and at night.
- Almost 20% of UK adults are reporting symptoms of depression, double the pre-pandemic norm. German research comparing the wellbeing of parents and non-parents showed that parents saw bigger falls in wellbeing during homeschooling and US research shows 74% of mothers reported feeling mentally worse since the pandemic began.
These statistics come as no surprise given they have taken on the role of teacher, breakfast club host, PE teacher (along with Joe Wicks), dinner lady, tuck shop manager and IT help desk. Mothers have taken on the role of teacher, breakfast club host, PE instructor (along with Joe Wicks), dinner lady, tuck shop manager and IT help desk. So I’m sure you agree it’s been an absolute stinker of a year for mothers. And for that reason, we have decided to put together a series of free events over the next 4 weeks which will kick off on Mothers Day. They deserve so much more than just 1 day this year.
So, what are we planning? We will be running live sessions across five themes that you can get involved in. All the sessions will be delivered live, for free, on our social media platforms.
- Unwind | relaxation R&R sessions, movement for mental wellbeing and support on self-care for mothers
- Unload | advice sessions offering practical advice around specific challenges like bouncing back from redundancy and
- Coach | mindset sessions around confidence you may have lost over the last year
- Enrich | mini-lessons on a range of topics later in the month to help learn new things
- Amuse | some fun sessions, CoFo cocktail hour, Big Fat Digital Mums Quiz featuring Timberlina
All the sessions are completely free, and we’ll be sharing the details across all on our social channels, so keep an eye out for daily events. If you know someone who you think would benefit from this let them know and we’ll make sure they get access to some well-deserved R&R.
You can access the schedule of the events below. You can also find out more about why we are running the campaign by listening to our podcast here.
Mothers Mind Month Calendar Of Events
So come and join us for a session.
So happy Mother's Mind Month from our family to yours.
Nikki & Kathryn
