Why Family Health Starts with Mum
(and Why Ignoring This Never Works)
Mum is a catch-all name we’ve given to the CEO of the household. The caregiver, emotional regulator and safety net. It encompasses the nurse, negotiator, project manager and mediator of the family, often all at once.
It’s no wonder we burn out. When mum is depleted, everything else becomes harder… for everyone.
It’s an uncomfortable truth that mum’s emotional well being influences the rest of the house. Mum is cranky- everyone is cranky. Mum is exhausted- everyone is exhausted. What is with that? I don’t think any mum asked for that responsibility and yet here we are.
The big issue here is that wearing all these hats, swapping them at lightening speed or piling them up all at once is leading to chronic stress. This isn’t a regular job you leave at 5pm. This is 24/7 nonstop physical and mental work. Pretty sure our dreams are about the family too!
This constant stress plays havoc with our hormones, leading to mood changes and emotional volatility. It also disrupts blood sugar regulation, contributing to fatigue, cravings and energy crashes. And of course, it lowers immune resilience so we catch every sniffle the kids do (link to Blog 2 Feb). Sometimes worse. And it lingers.
It’s easy to ignore the early signs of burn out (even late stages) because we have other, more important things to think about like kids! And that’s where we go wrong! The mother is literally the most important part of the family. She is the keystone. Without a keystone, or with a crumbling one, the whole structure becomes unstable.
Fatigue, mood changes, weight resistance and frequent illness are the early signs. It’s a great opportunity to stop and reassess. Put some hormone health foundations in place, address the stress and seriously look at your metabolic heath. These changes will alter your life and then your families. Because a healthy, regulated and happy mum flows through to the rest of the family.
When we put ourselves - aka mum - last, our short-term coping becomes a long-term depletion while our body remains in constant survival mode. We get into a cycle of managing symptoms without ever addressing the cause. It’s a sign of sporadic and inconsistent support and care.
Family health works best when the person holding it all is supported too.
You can explore the different ways I support women and families through consistent, guided care here.