Women do more of the planning and organization in many households.

Women need to stop believing it's their job to keep everyone in the family happy.

Families need to talk together about what needs to get done and then share the load.

Can we talk about the mental load? This is not a new topic. Women have been talking about this for years.

Honey, do we have more diapers?

Sweetie, where are his clean outfits?

Hey, have you arranged the baby's play date/doctor's appointment/preschool visit yet?

And even worse, (substitute your name here), what are we having for dinner?

These questions make women grind their teeth, develop sudden headaches, and retreat to their bathrooms for a moment to calm down...when they don't outright cause them to blow up.

Mothers, especially working mothers, are feeling that they are carrying the bulk of the work of thinking ahead and anticipating their family's needs as well as doing the actual work of making their households function. In my parent groups and in my individual sessions with mothers, this comes up all the time.

A U.N. report defines the mental load as the invisible mental and emotional labor behind handling life’s never-ending to-do lists,........

© Psychology Today