When work stress weighs on relationships

Work and home soon intertwine, and that very thing can make life especially stressful. How do you combine work and parenthood and also keep your relationship good and healthy? In this article, we look at the proportions.

Relationship tensions in work stress

On the NRC site, we found a post with interesting figures on the subject. In fact, childcare site Sitly conducted research on work stress and family and concluded that 30% of Dutch mothers experience a continuous feeling of stress. A word of caution though, the study predates corona. Occupational psychologist Prof. Maria Peeters discusses possible explanations for numbers.

According to Peeters, jobs sometimes lack “family friendliness. Possible consequences include feelings of stress, tension in the relationship and less attention to private time at home. And let that be the very time that nourishes and energizes us to be good partners and parents.

And then restore the balance

OK, so a critical look at the culture in companies and organizations. Within the family, it starts with sharing concerns about this. But also with the question: how are we going to restore balance?

Actually, we then want to “pull apart” the different roles. They need each other, but sometimes chafe. You can visualize them together: how are the roles distributed? The me, the partner role, dad or mom role and the role of professional. Write them down in percentages, make the roles visible. How do you divide the percentages for your partner? Come back to it after a few weeks together. So what does the distribution look like?

What we can do for you

Are you struggling to balance all those roles at home? Our therapists will work with you to see what is possible. Don’t hesitate, ask your questions or make an appointment to meet.

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