No time to cook, sew or have a lie-in... it’s motherhood in 2017

FOR many of us, the rigours of a busy lifestyle mean having to make sacrifices.

But for a large proportion of mothers, the pressures of parenting – as well as holding down a career – have meant many traditional tasks have fallen by the wayside.

According to research, 23 per cent of women say they did not have time to cook an evening meal from scratch, while one in five was unable to find time to make a child’s birthday cake.

The survey, which polled 1,000 mothers, found that around one in six felt that they were unable to take a role in their child’s Parent Teacher Association and a third said chores such as ironing bed linen were too much for them.

Although many were more stretched than their own mothers, the vast majority made sure that they never missed important events in their children’s lives – with 75 per cent of respondents saying that they had always attended a school play, parents’ evening or sports day.

Even if they had less time to carry out traditional tasks such as darning or spring-cleaning the family home, more than half of the women polled for skin care firm Sanctuary Spa said that their own mothers had more time as they did not have to work. When asked how times had changed for modern mothers, 50 per cent said that their lifestyles would have been different in the 1970s and 1980s.

The study also found that nearly one in five mothers had felt inadequate when they saw that social media ‘friends’ were seemingly able to juggle motherhood with a career – while they felt they did not have enough time to spare.

And a quarter of mothers admitted that they had gone without applying make-up and styling their hair before they left the house in the morning.

Even relaxation times had been hit: 19 per cent said that they no longer had the time to read a book in the evening and more than one in ten mothers felt like they did not have the time to spend a night at home by themselves.

Jacqueline Burchell, global marketing director at Sanctuary, said: ‘Our ongoing mission is to help women find their own sanctuary in a world of constant pressure to be real-life superwomen.

‘Those never-ending “to do” lists often lead women to skip breakfast or not wash their hair in order to reclaim a little more time in their daily lives.

‘Two thirds of the 1,000 mothers questioned said they dedicate just 14 minutes to getting themselves ready in the mornings.’

Meanwhile, one in four mothers would have to give up work if they didn’t have grandparents to look after their children, a survey of 1,000 adults by charity Grandparents Plus has revealed. Rushing Woman Syndrome

– Pages 34 & 35