A messy house is the number one cause of stress amongst parents, a recent survey has revealed.
We’re all familiar with the stress of parenting, from temper tantrums to lose a child in a shopping centre. But in a Childcare.co.uk survey of over 4,000 parents, 60 per cent of them agreed that a messy home is what stressed them out the most.
Only 16 per cent said that losing their child in a crowd was their main stressor, which is much lower than you might’ve expected. Other key stressful areas were a lack of sleep at 55 per cent, and finding appropriate childcare at 30 per cent.
On top of this, more than half admitted that parenting had an impact on their mental health, with 38 per cent of these saying that their mental health had negatively impacted their parenting abilities.
The Mental Health Foundation recently found that around 68 per cent of women and 57 per cent of men with mental health issues are parents, so these results back up their findings.
Richard Conway, founder of Childcare.co.uk, explained why parents mostly stress about the tidiness of their house. As a parent of two himself, he’s aware of the feeling. He described a messy house as being ‘a common cause of stress that most parents experience daily’.
Speaking about the mental health figures, he added ‘Hopefully this survey can start a conversation on stress as well as other mental health problems, and encourage parents to reach out and find the support they need.’
Interestingly however, a study last year found that messiest people are also the most intelligent- and that being in a messy environment can stimulate new and more creative ideas, as well as help you to think more positively.
If you're not convinced, and would prefer your home to be more organised, take a look at our top tips for tidying every room in the the house, as well as at one mum's genius hack for getting her children to put away their toys.
Have you got any top tips for staying on top of clutter with a house full of children - or is it an impossible task? Head to our Facebook and let us know.
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