In the beautiful, often overwhelming dance of Indian family life, parents are the unseen anchors, the tireless managers, the perpetual caregivers. From the first ray of dawn, preparing breakfast and school tiffins, to late nights spent ensuring homework is done and stories are told, our days are a relentless, loving marathon. The unspoken expectation, often inherited through generations, is that a good parent pours every ounce of their being into their children, their home, their elders, leaving precious little, if anything, for themselves. But what happens when the well runs dry? When the constant giving leaves us feeling perpetually drained, irritable, and a shadow of our former selves? This, dear parents, is often the quiet, creeping reality of parental burnout, a phenomenon increasingly acknowledged, even in our bustling Indian households.
Parental burnout isn't just feeling tired after a long day; it's a chronic state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion specific to the parenting role. For us, it might manifest as a short temper with our child for a minor mishap, a constant feeling of guilt that we're not doing enough, or an overwhelming sense of indifference towards things that once brought joy. Imagine the exhaustion after managing a full-time job, supervising online classes, cooking elaborate meals for festivals, mediating sibling squabbles, and still being expected to participate enthusiastically in every family WhatsApp group discussion. Our resilience, though mighty, has its limits.
The Quiet Cost of Self-Neglect on Our Families
We often internalize the belief that prioritizing our own needs is selfish. \
