How Women Can Ditch the Guilt

How to stop kids from biting their nails

Working women, who try to navigate their career and family find it difficult to deal with guilt at home despite their effort to making sure that they parent their kids perfectly. Women guilt is a nagging sense of inadequacy and constant fear of failure due to the pressure placed on them to parent perfectly. According to a study conducted in 2020 by Pew Research Centre, “77% of adults believe that women face a lot of pressure to be “involved.” Being involved sounds like the unspoken belief that women should singlehandedly be all things to all people at all times except for themselves.”

This may seem exhausting due to the gender-role expectations. Most times, guilt arises:

When they shout at their children or lose temper due to their work or other reasons.
When women think about abandoning or leaving their children.
When there is an emotional distance between women and their families due to work stress.
Due to social disapproval.

However, holding on to this guilt can lead women to unhealthy parenting habits, depression and anxiety. For women to ditch this guilt, here are some points to note.

Free yourself from the pursuit of perfectionism

No one is perfect. Women are advised to focus on being a present and connected parent who is willing to apologise when they make mistakes. With this, they can learn how to juggle their career and family.

Reclaim your Identity

No doubt, mothers’ roles are important to the existence of a family. But, a woman’s value and existence lies beyond motherhood.

Recite Positive Affirmations

With the stress women have to handle daily at work and home, it is advisable that they quit negative self-talk. This is because you become what you say about yourself. If you constantly tell yourself how bad you are handling your home and career, then you will believe it. Instead, you are to feed yourself with kind words.

Practise self-care

This is an intentional act to make yourself and your needs a priority. It includes eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, creating boundaries and investing in your dreams.

Therefore, to ditch the guilt, you are to use your time wisely. Do not waste your time on things that don’t matter.