Why Do I Feel So Bad? Pandemic Parent Burnout and The “Five Layer Dip”

Why Do I Feel So Bad? Pandemic Parent Burnout and The “Five Layer Dip”

by | June 4, 2021

Most of the parents I know are still not okay. When I think about why my brain feels broken and how tired I am, I start to see how this fatigue and burnout is part of a much larger puzzle. It’s not just the pandemic that wore us down, although that’s a huge part. Instead, it’s an amalgamation of many forces, all layered on top of each other. As a result, it feels like we’re carrying loads of sandbags around with us at all times. We carry the weight of all that we’ve been through. It’s a particular set of layers that I’m now referring to as the five layer dip. Here’s why we still feel so broken.

Is The Pandemic Messing Up Our Kids? — Episode #182 with Dr. Courtney Bolton

Is The Pandemic Messing Up Our Kids? — Episode #182 with Dr. Courtney Bolton

by | April 26, 2021

How badly is this year, this pandemic, messing up our kids and us, as parents? After more than a year of living through social distancing, virtual school and blended schools, and highly restricted business activities, parents and children are suffering tremendously. We still don’t know what the long-term damage looks like, so I reached out to a parenting and children’s psychologist, Dr. Courtney Bolton, to ask her about how parents and kids will fare through all of this. Here’s what a psychologist says about the well being of parents and children in a pandemic, and how to help them (and yourself) through it.