Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim Your Life and Raise Healthier Children in the Process

by Sheryl G. Ziegler

Overview

The ultimate must-read handbook for the modern mother: a practical, and positive tool to help free women from the debilitating notion of being the "perfect mom," filled with funny and all too relatable true-life stories and realistic suggestions to stop the burnout cycle, and protect our kids from the damage burnout can cause.

Moms, do you feel tired? Overwhelmed? Have you continually put off the things you need to do for you? Do you feel like it’s all worth it because your kids are happy? Are you "over" being a mother? If you answered yes to these questions, you’re not alone. Parents today want to create the ideal childhood for their children. Women strive to be the picture-perfect Pinterest mother that looks amazing, hosts the best birthday parties in town, posts the most "liked" photos, and serves delicious, nutritious home-cooked meals in her neat, organized home after ferrying the kids to school and a host of extracurricular activities on time.

This drive, while noble, can also be destructive, causing stress and anxiety that leads to "mommy burnout." Psychologist and family counselor Dr. Sheryl Ziegler is well-versed in the stress that moms face, and the burden of guilt they carry because they often feel like they aren’t doing enough for their kids’ happiness. A mother of three herself, Dr. Z—as she’s affectionately known by her many patients—recognizes and understands that modern moms are all too often plagued by exhaustion, failure, isolation, self-doubt, and a general lack of self-love, and their families are also feeling the effects, too.

Over the last nineteen years working with families and children, Dr. Z has devised a prescriptive program for addressing "mommy burnout"—teaching moms that they can learn to re-energize themselves and still feel good about their families and their lives. In this warm and empathetic guide, she examines this modern epidemic among mothers who put their children’s happiness above their own, and offers empowering, proven solutions for alleviating this condition, saving marriages and keeping kids happy in the process.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062683694
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	09/25/2018
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	412,125
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Dr. Sheryl Gonzalez Ziegler is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Denver, with more than two decades of experience treating tweens, teens and their families in the areas of anxiety, trauma, depression, chronic stress and adjustment disorders. Ziegler is the creator of Start with The Talk©, a puberty skills course for parents and kids available in-person and online that has helped over a thousand families and counting. She’s a nationally-recognized expert on the intersection of puberty and mental health and is regularly featured in the media as such. She is the is the author of Mommy Burnout: How to Reclaim your Life and Raise Healthier Children (Dey Street, 2018), which won Best Parenting Book of the Year by the International Latino Book Awards Foundation.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Chapter 1 Why Am I So Overwhelmed?

What Mommy Burnout Looks Like 1

Chapter 2 Didn't I Used to Have Friends?

The Connection Between Mommy Burnout and Isolation 35

Chapter 3 I Know My Mom Is Just Trying to Help:

The Difficulties of Creating a Support Network 63

Chapter 4 How Many "Likes" Did I Get Today?

The Social Media Mommy Trap 89

Chapter 5 I Just Want What's Best for My Children:

How to Need to Achieve Perfection for Our Kids Adds to Mommy Burnout 117

Chapter 6 He Just Doesn't Get It:

How Burnout Puts Our Marriages in Jeopardy 139

Chapter 7 What the Hell Am I Doing with My Life?

The Working Mom's Dilemma 165

Chapter 8 I Just Can't Get It All Done …

The First Step in Fighting Mommy Burnout-Ban "Busy" as a Badge of Honor 197

Chapter 9 I'm Sick and Tired, All the Time.

How Mommy Burnout Makes Us Sick 225

Chapter 10 Are My Kids Burned Out, Too? 247

Conclusion: #momlife for a New Age 279

Acknowledgments 283

Notes 287

Index 303

Editorial Reviews

[A] superb self-help guide” — Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

03/01/2018
Born to a teenage single immigrant mother in New York City and then raised in a blended family in upstate New York, Ziegler, a child psychologist and mother of three, brings a variety of perspectives to the table on the issue of the stresses of modern parenting. The author points out that parents feel more pressure than ever owing to busyness and its resulting isolation, the lack of support networks in a world where extended family is often across state lines instead of next door, social media, and the need to find perfect options for everything from preschool to cloth diapering. Throw in career demands and the constant mobility of the current culture and results can range from emotional to physical maladies that put marriages, health, and children themselves at risk. Ziegler shares case studies from her practice in the beginning of each chapter and includes a fun quiz parents can use to gauge their stress in varying areas. Each chapter also includes a prescription plan designed to fight mommy burnout, including strategies such as compartmentalizing your life, creating emotional boundaries, and adding unstructured time to both your own and your child's day. VERDICT Mommy burnout is a common buzzphrase, and Ziegler's book provides a sound resource for anyone struggling in the trenches of parenthood.—Julia M. Reffner, Richmond, VA

School Library Journal