The Invisible, Unlimited Work Of Mothers

Experts say that this hidden work comes in three overlapping categories:

1. cognitive labour, which is thinking about all the practical elements of household responsibilities, including shopping and planning activities.
2. emotional labour, which is maintaining the family’s emotions; calming a distressed child or worrying about how they are managing at school.
3. the mental load is the intersection of the two: preparing, organising and anticipating everything that needs to get done to make life flow.

There are four clear stages of mental work related to household responsibilities: 

• anticipating needs, 
• identifying options, 
• deciding among the options;
• monitoring the results. 

Mothers did more in all four stages, her research showed; while parents...