Supermoms At Risk Of Depression

At least if you are to believe Marie Claire magazine, who had cited an American study on 1600 married women.

The article stated that although working mums are less likely to show signs of depression (Hurray!) than their stay-at-home counterparts, their unrealistic expectations about how easy it will be to balance work and family life makes them more susceptive to the mental condition. Yikes!

But; and get this; the study suggests working mums can have lower rates of depression than those who stay at home, if they accept that they cannot do it all. Does that mean more delagation and divison of labor, I wonder?!

"Women who go into employment expecting it to be difficult but who are accepting of that are less likely to be frustrated than women who expect things to be more equal with their partners," says study author Katrina Leupp.

According to 2006 statistics, around 65 per cent of American mothers with young children and 80 per cent of women with children over the age of five are employed.The figures are pretty different here in Norway, where pretty much 100 percent of mothers return to work once their babies turn 1 and can go into full-time care. The study also pointed out - which i am sure goes for us here in Europe as well as for our mummy-friends across the pond, that although today’s Dad’s do there bit, it is still women who bare the brunt of household duties. Shocker? Hardly.

It is also important to take note that the study clearly found that despite the increased pressures, having employment is beneficial for women’s mental health. According to the study, when stay-at-home mums hit 40 they display more symptoms of depression than those who work, but career women who think they can 'have it all' were more likely to be depressed than those with a realistic view.

Ms Leupp suggests that women who think that juggling a full time job with childcare and household chores will be easy are expecting too much from themselves and are likely to feel inadequate.

"Women are sold a story they can do it all but most workplaces are designed for those without children," says Ms Leupp. Again, I send a little prayer of thank you that this is not so much the case in Europe, and certainly not here in best-country-in-the-world-to-be-a-mother Norway.

That does not mean that trying to do it all isn't difficult here too, because it is. But the freedom to be able to have it all, career, children, family; is a privelege.

"Accept that balancing work and family feels hard because it is hard, rather than feeling guilty or unsuccessful if you can’t devote as much time as you would like to your job and to your family," advices Ms Leupp.

So yeah, some days are hectic. Some days I look at my overflowing wash basket and wonder when I will ever see the bottom of it again. Some days we have toast for dinner. Certainly not all days, but it has happened, trust me. Some days I wish I could stay at home and just play Mummy all day. But overall I am so happy and thankful that I have a job that I love, co-workers to inspire me, make my own money, have a balance between work and home-life that I think is pretty much perfect, had the opportunity to take so much paid time off to be there for Nahla's whole first year and get to have a foot in two very different worlds who are both important to me, who make me feel like me and that means that I can continue to balance motherhood and media - just the way I LOVE!