Parents should take time to care for themselves, the John Tung Foundation’s Mental Health Center said on Sunday, citing a British study which found that the average parent experiences 40 minutes of child-related anxiety per day.
The study also found that parents reported feeling stress at least six times a day, the center said in a statement.
The most common anxiety triggers include misbehavior by children, putting children to bed, trying to feed them a certain type of food, preventing them from watching too much TV or using devices excessively, and asking them to clean their rooms, the center quoted the study as saying.
Forty-six percent of British parents said that their children wrecked wide swathes of their homes, while 13 percent and 10 percent said their children caused damage to stores and restaurants respectively.
Children also delay simple tasks, adding on average 11 minutes to putting on clothes before leaving home and 12 minutes to eating breakfast, it said.
The study was funded by British Petroleum and had a sample pool of 2,000 British adults.
Raising children is not easy and parents have to adjust their mindset to be positive about the process, Tung Yuk-ying (董旭英), a professor at National Cheng Kung University’s Institute of Education, was quoted as saying.
Parents should ask their children to share what is going on in their lives on the way to school and to think about the mess children make as something they will later recall with fondness, he said.
Time management is important and parents should save some for themselves to avoid feeling overwhelmed, he said, adding that division of labor between parents could be useful in reducing stress.
People should not hesitate to ask for help from relatives and friends if childcare is taking a toll on their mental health, as parents need to be well to care for their children properly, he said.
Center director Yeh Ya-hsing (葉雅馨) said that grandparents could help parents with their children a few days per week, while children should be encouraged to follow clear-set rules that allow them some say with regards to watching TV or using devices.
Excessive discipline that cannot be realistically enforced will bring only frustration to parents, she said, adding that parents can always increase the strictness of rules after the child misbehaves.
For the summer vacation, parents should come up with activities for their children and plan ahead of time, she said, adding that possible options include preparing meals together, inviting friends to visit or exercise.
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