Parents need support

Parenting doesn't come with a guidebook, a job description, standard working hours, nor policies or procedures of how to best manage every possible eventuality that comes with the world of children.

So for this first blog post lets dig into into some of the over arching challenges faced by parents which led to the motivation for starting this podcast.

1. Life changes

Many parents don’t know how much life will actually change until they have a family. The effect of birth trauma, sleep deprivation, hormonal changes, the constant crying and not knowing what to do, managing the juggle of life while trying to provide for and nurture this innocent tiny child.

Over time these physical, emotional and psychological challenges can lead to long-term distress, exhaustion and burnout. Which leads us to number 2, Maternal Mental Health.

2. Maternal Mental Health

According to the Ministry of Health, 12–18 percent of New Zealand mothers and 10 percent of fathers will develop depression, anxiety or other mental health issues during the perinatal period.

According to the Maternal Mental Health Report 2022, 11,000 women are estimated to experience Perinatal Depression/Anxiety in New Zealand every year. Approximately 75% of these women won't meet the criteria for Maternal Mental Health due to their symptoms not being “severe enough.” This doesn't mean these mothers are not suffering and are in need of support, it just means they do not meet the criteria.

If you are hopeful things will get better as your children grow, an overseas study on maternal mental health found that at ten years postpartum, depression and anxiety symptoms were reported by approximately 25% of women! This was higher than in the 12 months postpartum.

3. Children

Studies have shown that children of mothers with even low or sub-clinical symptoms of depression are more likely to have emotional-behavioural difficulties compared to children whose mothers did not have any depressive symptoms.

What does this mean? It means that children of mothers who do not meet the criteria above, can still be negatively affected.

4. Support

When parents recognize they need support, they often need to search for it. Asking friends, family or searching online in the hope of finding the help they need. When you then find yourself consuming differing advice from various sources of information, it can be overwhelming.

If you do find the support you need, it may involve a fee which some parents may not be in a financial position to pay for.

Children bring so much joy into our lives. Their love, connection, laughter, cuddles. Witnessing their growth and development can bring an enormous sense of pride.

However parenting also comes with challenges. Parenting is an emotional rollercoaster, where time and energy is now spent largely on your children, you may be lacking sleep which can limit your ability to function during the day, and you now have a financial responsibility to raise and support a family. Its a juggle.

All parents need support at some stage throughout their parenting journey. The Parental Well-Being Podcast was created to talk about the many topics relevant to parents, and provide tools, strategies and techniques to help parents navigate this journey with confidence.

If you haven't tuned in yet, episodes of the Parental Well-Being Podcast are available on Spotify, Apple and Google podcasts or just click on the podcast page on this website.