What is the more stressful. Being a parent to young children or having a management job?

Question

I have both and would be interested to know what other people think. Both are demanding with people who constantly bicker and demand your attention. In fact the only time alone to gather your thoughts is in the commute. I'm sure other people are in similar positions

Answer 1

My husband has a very stressful management job, a wife limited in what she can do because of multiple sclerosis, and after nearly 16 years of marriage we had a baby 9 months ago!
Needless to say he pretty much stays stressed out. Between work & home, in my opinion, work is definitely more stressful for him. Time with the baby, even if he is fussy from gas or screaming from teething, is still quality time & he loves every minute of it, even at 2:30am despite the fact that the clock goes off at 5:15am.

Answer 2

What?!! Being a parent to young children hands down!! And I say that because you don't clock out of parenting. I have had a management job at a few retail stores and true enough it has its stressful moments, but that comes with the territory. You have to be a person with leadership skills and knows how to be really responsible for sales and merchandise and so on. You don't get a promotion for being a good parent, or a pat on the back out of no where or a raise. Obviously you must not be a parent because that would've been a very clear and cut concept. You can't reason with a child you have to comfort them, and cater to their needs day and night, whereas in a store you do it when you punch out. Why do you think there's more mothers in the workforce? We love our kids, but work is the break, because eventhough we work, the job never stops.... So being a parent is wayyyyyyyy stressful than a job even if it's a management position.

Answer 3

being a parent! I was a store manager for awhile, I could just laugh after being whined at because people tend to get upset at the stupidest things in life. At the end of the day, I could come home and relax. I only had to work 50 hours a week. As a parent, I'm always being challenged and have to be "on" 24/7. I love it though, way more than that dreadful job!

Answer 4

Being a parent to young children is the most demanding "job" ever. Not only are you on call 24/7, but you love your children and the stakes are much higher then any job could ever be. Although parenting is so demanding, it is also most rewarding. No amount of power or money in a job could ever outweigh the job of parenting.

Answer 5

Yes i agree that your job, and having children are and can be very stressful. People at your job depend on you as well as your children. I have worked when i was in my younger years about my 20's I became pregnant for my first son and then i decided at that point i wanted to be a stay at home mom. Then 2 years later I had my other son. I have enjoyed raising them, but now they are ages 13 and 11 1/2. At this point in my life i have enough stress dealing with their sassy attitudes, like all pre-teens. my second son will be 12 in March. They stress me out all the time, but what am I to do, but love them, and protect them.

Answer 6

Management would be more stress full. People already know how to push buttons in that case. Unlike little children they just don't know any better. At least if your little one stresses you out, you know you have lots of time to stress them out when they are teenagers. But you both love each other unconditionally. Work on the other hand, I would have about have the amount of patience with moronic co-workers.

Answer 7

Well this is so funny timing,


i work a t a a retial store and i was planning on talking to my supervisor tomorrow about becoming a supervisor.

I am not a parent but i would say being a parent probably would be, I mean that is a 24 hour job, I don't know what kind of job that you are in but i don't think that it would be too tough, that is the one i will be contemplating about, but it wiil be hard 40-44 hours per week, Hopefully it would pay 11.20-11.80 per hour.

Answer 8

That all depends on whether or not "being a parent" means stay at home parent or working parent. I believe (based on my own management career and stay at home parenting experiences) that having a management job would be easier than being a stay at home parent of young children who are also at home with you all the time. A management job would be more difficult than staying at home only if your children are in some type of part-time preschool or daycare that allows you to have consisten breaks.

Answer 9

while the stresses at work are hard, the more difficult bickering is between my two children. It's very disconcerting to have warfare at home where I only want a place of peace and quiet. At work I can't order people out of the room - at home I can and do!

good luck!

Answer 10

Being a parent to a child is more stressful because (hopefully) you care more about the outcome of your work. You (hopefully) have more pride and love in the job of parent than managing some people.