Tired millennial mom asks how older women managed kids and work at the same time

Women have been managing their homes and kids for centuries. In recent decades, women have also actively started working and doing jobs. However, that has not curbed or balanced out the work they do at home. A millennial woman of today, Phiji—who goes by @_phiji on TikTok—asks the women who came before her, like her mother, how they managed to balance their work while raising kids.

She begins the video by saying, "Am I the only mom who's confused at how her own mom was able to do this?" She asks questions like how were her mother and others like her able to wake up, get themselves dressed, get their kids ready, take the kids to school, then go to their workplace themselves, work for 8 hours or however long their shift is, leave the office to pick up the kid and then go home only to have to do more work before repeating the same cycle, over and over again through years and years.

Phiji further asked the women watching her video how women like her mother ensured that the kids were fed and bathed daily before putting the kids to bed. She questioned how these women put their kids to bed and then woke up the next morning to repeat the whole process again. She talks about how she could simply not fathom how women did it. She said, "I'm just not seeing it." She also spoke about how her mother was extremely serious about going to work and hence, wouldn't even let Phiji miss a day at school. She said, "If I was sick, I had to go to school for at least half a day. Because I am not messing up my attendance and she has got go to work."

She asks, "I don't know if I can do this. Like how am I supposed to have the energy to do all of this?" She wonders how to find the patience to cook, clean and keep the house together while also having time for herself. She does not see the balance in this lifestyle. She says, "I'm not seeing the work-life balance. I do not see there are not enough hours in a day to do all this." She funnily says how the math just does not seem to be "mathing" for her. She ends her video by exclaiming that she is a millennial mother and does not think this kind of balance is for her.

After watching her video, people in the comment section have a lot to say. @bebebeyoutiful said, "I think there were fewer distractions like video streaming, social media, phone games, etc., so they were more motivated because nothing better to do, haha." A fellow mother @1alaujua said, "My mama had 3 kids and I only have 1 and I don't understand how she did it because 1 kid is killing me." @nueleven28 suggested an alternative perspective and said, "I don't think they had time for themselves. I think they just kept moving and never even stopped to think about how exhausted or miserable they were."