Motherhood

If there's one key phrase that has permeated the parenting discourse in recent years, it's "default parent," the idea that one parent—almost always the mom—takes on the vast majority of the mental and logistical load of raising children. Even in households where a couple tries to split the work evenly, one parent inevitably keeps track of all the things—kids' doctor and dental appointments, who's outgrowing their clothes or shoes, finding a present for the kid's friend's birthday party that's coming up, adding school events to the calendar, making sure uniforms are washed, etc. The default parent is the first one the school (or the coach, or the orthodontist) calls.

Most of the discussions around default parents revolve around how exhausting it is (because it is), how their invisible work goes unseen and unappreciated, and how partners can help offload some of the burden. But Karen Johnson, mom of three teens and author of What Do I Want to Be When They Grow Up (and Other Thoughts from a 40-something Mom), has been reflecting on her years as the default parent and shared two realities of that role that don't get talked about as much.

How many moms would actually give up the default parent role if they could?

Johnson shares a story about going on a 14-mile hike with her husband, just the two of them, and how she got text messages with questions from their kids 12 times throughout their hike. Meanwhile, her husband's phone never dinged once the whole day. This happened despite her having organized the kids' lives with food prep, a list of chores for them to do, and transportation from Grandma to get the kids where they needed to go so that she and her husband could get away for the day.

When you're the default parent, you never truly "get away." Photo credit: Canva

On the one hand, Johnson was annoyed that she fielded all of these texts while her husband didn't. "But here's the truth—a truth that often makes my husband's head spin off in frustration," Johnson writes. "As a default parent mom, I don't want the texts to go to anyone else. If the kids had bugged him all day, I'd be looking over his shoulder, asking 'What does she want? What is he eating for lunch? Who is walking the dog? Who is going to what friend's house? How are they getting there? How else is going over there because that one friend is being mean lately and I'm not sure she'd want to go if the other girl is going…What time will they be home? Did they clean their room first?'

"I don't know how to shut it off or truly escape, but tbh, I'm not sure I want to," she admits. "I talk a lot about the exhaustion and overwhelm of default parenting, and I'll continue to do so because we need to normalize all parents sharing the mental load and give grace to moms trying to juggle it all. However. I'm also a big old hypocrite because if anyone tried to pry it all away from me—my job as keeper of the family calendar and the household manager role and all the knowledge about the kids' lives and who got teased at recess last week—well, I'd hold onto all of it with a death grip. This much I know."

This is a reality for many moms—feeling frustrated with the default parent workload but also not really wanting to pass it off to anyone else, either. Johnson explains that in some ways, that means our partners can't win. Logistically speaking, there's a lot that we can't just hand off for them to do and they can't just decide to pick up on their own because so many things are intertwined. It's often easier and even more desirable to just do All The Things yourself, and there's a sense of identity and accomplishment that comes along with fulfilling that role as well that we may not consciously acknowledge.

The non-default parent genuinely misses out on things

Another epiphany Johnson had in discussions with her husband is that the default parent role comes with some real perks that the non-default parent doesn't get.

"We recently had a heavy, but important conversation about this," Johnson writes. "I was carrying all of the kids' proverbial 'stuff' and he was at a big meeting in another country, feeling important in his thriving career. As I lamented that I was jealous of his fancy dinners while we ate leftovers at home, his response was important for me to hear.

'"But you're there. You know everything. You don't miss any of it. I hear about big stuff that they are going through sometimes days later. I know you envy what I have and what I get to do, but I envy what you have, too.'"

Johnson says she hadn't really seen it from his perspective before. It's so easy to look at what we feel is lacking or what we wish we had while overlooking the benefits of what we do have.

"It was helpful to hear my husband's words and feel grateful that, yes, I have been there for everything," she writes. "I know all the things and carry all of their 'stuff.' I am on the inside track, whether that's where I want to be 100 percent of the time or whether I'd occasionally like a mental break to step off for a hot second, but it's true. Default parenting and carrying the mental load is a freaking lot and there's no escape. Ever. But it's also a beautiful blessing and I know that someday I won't need so many keys."

When it feels like so much of the mental load is on your shoulders, default parenting can be overwhelming. But gratitude, Johnson says, has been key to maintaining healthy relationships with her husband and kids, feeling solid in her purpose and value, and keeping her mental health in check, even in the midst of that overwhelm. Gratitude isn't always easy to find, but it's worth looking for, especially when you feel frustrated or resentful.

It can help to hear perspectives from moms who have many years of parenting under their belt, who've had the broad array of experiences and some time to reflect on them, and who can offer some small snippets of wisdom to help those who are in the thick of it. Discover more in Karen Johnson's book here and you can follow her on Facebook and Instagram.