'Parental burnout' awareness campaign unveiled

Burnout at work is a much-written-about issue. Now a new campaign aims to "break the silence" about "parental burnout" among Brussels families.

The campaign - called Parent à Bout (on the brink) - has been launched by Brussels family minister Céline Fremault and the Ligue des Familles organisation, whose research found one in five parents feels at risk of burnout from looking after their children.

Creches, doctors' surgeries and other places frequented by parents will display posters and postcards and a smartphone app lets parents take a test to assess how at-risk they are. The campaign has the scientific support of two researchers from UCL in Louvain-la-Neuve.

Fremault said: "This campaign aims to give the problem a name and to tell parents that they are not alone, as well as to help them detect the first signs and act in time to break the silence around parental burnout."

Testimonials on the Parent à Bout website include this from a mother: "I was exhausted, I was just unable to respond to my eldest's needs. The smallest task needed too much energy and I did not have any more. I was just in survival mode."

One father writes: "Everybody told me I was a great dad. I always did more for the children and I gradually became exhausted. I used to be calm - then I got angry more and more often. In the evening I needed a drink to relax, then two, then one day I had become addicted."