EIGHT OUT OF TEN PARENTS IN WALES SHOW WARNING SIGNS OF PARENTAL BURNOUT AS FAMILIES STRUGGLE WITH TOLL OF PANDEMIC

Leading children’s charity hears from parents ‘drowning’ because of a lack of support for families affected by the past 18 months

• New Action for Children research shows 80% of parents in Wales have demonstrated at least one of the warning signs that may indicate parental burnout as a result of the pandemic
• Over a third have struggled with anxiety
• The long-term impact of the pandemic on their child’s mental health is what worries most parents – with their child’s education also a huge concern
• Action for Children’s parenting advisers fear anxiety over job security, rising living costs and impact of Universal Credit cuts will continue to compound the pressure on parents
• One Mum told the charity’s parenting advice service Parent Talk: ‘I feel like I’m crumbling under the pressure and I’ve lost count how many times I’ve cried over the past weeks. I don’t know what to do and I hate myself but I feel like just walking out of the door and not coming back.’

Eighty per cent (80%) of parents in Wales admit to struggling with at least one of the warning signs that may indicate parental burnout – a condition identified as ‘a prolonged response to chronic and overwhelming parental stress’¹ – as a result of the pandemic. That’s according to new research with 95 parents in Wales (part of a UK-wide survey of 2,022 parents) by Action for Children, which lays bare the impact that the past 18 months has had on millions of families across the UK. The charity is calling on the government to urgently increase the support available for parents and carers before problems escalate in homes or schools – a situation which could lead to potentially significant, yet avoidable, costs for public services.   

The most common red flags² shown by the majority of parents polled by the charity in Wales included anxiety (39%), disruption to sleep (25%), feeling isolated (38%), depression (29%) and overwhelming exhaustion mentally (28%). 

Other key findings:

• Parents of pre-school age children in the UK were more likely to say they have suffered at least one of these indicators (86%) than parents of secondary age children (76%)
• More women are likely to be struggling with signs of parental burnout across the UK as a result of the pandemic than men
• 80% of parents in Wales said they were worried about the impact of covid on their child’s future

The charity’s own parenting helpline, Parent Talk, which offers free, online advice and one to one chats with trained advisers, is seeing evidence of the challenges being faced by parents first-hand, highlighted by these real-life examples of chats with parents*:

‘I have a toddler and feel like I’m on a ride I can’t get off. Lately I’ve been having feelings of rage which isn’t like me at all. I feel like I can’t get back to normal after the pandemic, I’m still anxious about going out and feel so isolated and depressed.’

‘My teen is addicted to gaming and it’s got worse because of Covid. He refuses to sleep and when I tell him to stop he ignores me. Last night I turned the wi-fi off and he lashed out at me. My husband tells me I’m making a fuss over nothing but I want to just leave this house and never come back.’

‘I’m still waiting for an ASD (autism spectrum disorder) diagnosis for my child but I’ve been told I could be waiting for over a year. He’s struggling enormously and I feel like I’m drowning I’m so worried about it all. I can’t sleep and when I do I have nightmares.’

Parent Talk, a digital advice and chat service for parents and carers, has helped nearly 10,000 parents through one-to-one chats in the last year and has seen a sharp rise in parents seeking help with the most severe issues since the start of the pandemic. Worries about children’s mental health featured in over half (51%) of chats since March 2021 compared to around a third of chats (32%) last year – an increase of 60%. Concerns about their child’s education have also doubled year on year and parents and carers are also increasingly expressing worries about their own mental health.³

Lynn Giles, Parent Talk Manager at Action for Children, said: 

‘Every day Parent Talk hears heart-breaking stories of children struggling with their mental health, education, development – the list is endless and these issues are hurting children from newborns to teens. Parents are desperately trying to help support their children but are often feeling utterly overwhelmed with nowhere to turn. Desperate to do the right thing, but not knowing what that is. 

The Parent Talk team is there for the growing numbers of parents and carers that need help. The fall-out from Covid is going to take years to process and with the added stresses in the run up to Christmas with food and fuel price rises on the horizon it’s almost a perfect storm of parental pressure. This could have a huge impact on the life chances of our children.

The Government needs to recognise that parents, especially now, need help in lots of different ways. So, as well as trusted digital services like Parent Talk, we need to invest in face-to-face services like Family Hubs, which are local support centres where problems can be picked up more easily in the early stages and could prove a vital lifeline to those parents struggling in the wake of the pandemic.’