Mothers need more help to ‘have it all’

Researchers found most mothers believed they could have a successful career and still enjoy quality time with their friends and family, but only if they could rely on support from their partner, a nanny, nursery or childminder, and in some cases, the help of a cleaner and a dog walker.

The study of 2,000 working mums found that three-quarters of working mums do not think they can have the best of both worlds without help from others to juggle everything on their plate, and more than four in ten felt that they would never achieve the perfect balance.

Liz Fraser, modern family expert for Care.com, an online platform for finding and managing family care whose researchers carried out the study, said: “In previous generations, women often took on the role of housewife after having children - spending all of their time running the home and looking after their family.

“But nowadays, more women than ever are returning to their career after having a child, but this means there is less time for everything else which needs doing.

“Women can feel a huge amount of pressure to succeed in all areas of their life - a balancing act which can takes years to perfect.

“In today’s society, asking for help, whether that’s simply from your partner or a professional, is not a bad thing and can be the difference between someone struggling along without any time to themselves or living a happy life with a great work/life balance.”

The study found that money was seen as the biggest barrier to living a full life by 69 per cent of women.

Another 44 per cent said they did not have enough time to be fulfilled both at and away from work.

Forty-one per cent of mothers said they needed a helping hand with the cleaning, childcare, general day-to-day errands and shopping to achieve the right work-life balance.

And almost 10 per cent said a little help from a dog walker was all it would take to help them ‘have it all’.