Working Mums put in 13 Hours Every Weekday Holding Down a Paid Job and the Family
Caring for the children and managing their home, as well as holding down a paid job, means that mums are on the go for just over 13 hours every weekday, according to new research.
Cooking and preparing food, running errands for the family and taking care of pets are daily tasks carried out amid days which begin at 6.45am up until they start work, and then after work until 7.52pm when the kids go to bed.
The study also found three quarters of mums rarely get a chance to sit down and eat breakfast or dinner at home because of their hectic schedule, and the horrendous workload means that, including a 37-and-a-half hour a week full-time job, millions of mums are putting in an exhausting 66-hours on a weekly basis.
A spokesman for natural cold remedy Kaloba, which commissioned the study, said: “Mums have to work so hard to keep everyone in the family happy, but it’s amazing to see exactly how many hours they have to put in.
“There are so many different tasks to carry out on a daily or weekly basis, and a huge percentage is doing this on top of a paid job of some form. It makes you wonder where families would be without a mum doing what they do.
“But this makes it even more important that mums are healthy and not too run down to avoid picking up colds from their children and friends.”
The good news is that most mums do get a bit of a break at weekends when dad is home to do his share of the housework and help out with the children.
Mums need to try and take time out in their day to sit down and relax, even for just a few minutes, to give themselves a break and avoid making themselves ill
The study of 2,000 mums found in an average week, more than eight-and-a-half hours are spent entertaining the children, while almost five hours is taken up with cooking and preparing food.
Three hours and 38 minutes is spent on the chores and cleaning the home, with more than two hours spent buying food and groceries each week.
Washing-up or loading the dishwasher accounts for almost two hours per week, while just over one hour and 30 minutes is spent running errands for everyone in the family.
One hour and 27 minutes is taken up with making the beds or tidying bedrooms, another hour and 25 minutes on helping the children with their homework and an hour and 21 minutes ferrying children to school or evening clubs.
An hour and 22 minutes is then spent looking after family pets or walking the dog.
On top of this, two fifths of busy mums hold down a full-time job, adding another 37 hours and 30 minutes to the time they spend on the go each day.
Kaloba’s spokesman added: “Mums need to try and take time out in their day to sit down and relax, even for just a few minutes, to give themselves a break and avoid making themselves ill.”
The research also found that nine in ten mums are so busy they often have days when they are doing something from the moment they wake up until the moment they go to sleep.
A massive 92 per cent believe being a mum is a full-time job in itself. Researchers also found that nearly two thirds of mums worry about being so busy that it might be affecting their immune system.
More than three quarters also worry that they are more run down due to their hectic lifestyles and more prone to colds and bugs. And over three quarters are often picking up colds and bugs from their children or their friends.
Three quarters of mums even said they dread their children getting colds because they know they will more than likely end up with it too.
“Whilst adults catch a cold two to four times a year, children catch as many as eight,” a Kaloba spokesman said. “Children under the age of 12 are amongst the most susceptible group to colds and flu, so it is important that parents are kept up to date on the best and most researched remedies, as their children are likely to suffer multiple infections in a year.”
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