It’s official: Moms run the world. According to a new study commissioned by Welch’s, if you add up the time moms spend at their paid jobs and keeping their family lives running smoothly, the average mom puts in an astounding 98 hours of work a week.
The study, which looked at 2,000 mothers with school-aged kids in the United States, found that the average mom generally kickstarts her day at 6:23 a.m. and doesn’t wrap up work or family duties until 8:31 p.m. That comes to a whopping 14 hours of work a day.
It’s no wonder 4 in 10 moms said they felt overwhelmed with tasks all week long!
Past studies have shown that moms still bear the brunt of household chores and childcare—and that holds true even for the moms who are the main breadwinners in their families. They also frequently take on the “mental load” of running their families, like noticing when supplies run out, signing the kids up for summer camp and remembering when bills need to be paid—the unseen labor that really adds to stress and exhaustion. Essentially, women are working the hourly equivalent of more than two full-time jobs.
“The results of the survey highlight just how demanding the role of mom can be and the non-stop barrage of tasks it consists of,” Casey Lewis, MS, RD and Health & Nutrition Lead at Welch’s, told Yahoo! News.
Fortunately, moms have a few key items and people that help them out, according to Welch’s survey. Asked what made their life with 5- to 7-year-olds a little easier, moms ranked wet wipes, children’s TV shows and apps, tablets, drive-thru meals and Netflix at the top of the list. Helpful grandparents, babysitters and easy-to-grab healthy snacks also made their top 20 list—as well as wine, of course.
Running a family and clocking in at work is no easy task, so it’s essential for moms to be able to outsource some of that work to partners and family (and children’s shows on Netflix, of course). Because, after all, moms clearly need some time to themselves in order to sit back and relax with a well-deserved glass of wine at the end of a 98-hour work week.
