Shelley Kemmerer: Dealing with Parental Burnout

Shelley Kemmerer is a parent, a board certified physician assistant and the founder of Run Tell Mom, LLC. During her clinical year to become a physician’s assistant, Shelley became pregnant. She chose to keep her pregnancy a secret, even while enduring constant sickness. Her child was born right as she was taking her boards and afterward she threw herself into work, extending her hours so that she could work fewer days. This very quickly led Shelley right into the dual role collision of the responsibilities of being a mother and working outside the home. Today, Shelley discusses parental burnout, burnout prevention as family planning, and her own advice for already burnt out mothers and expectant parents.

Mom burnout is incredibly common, especially in places like the United States where there is no federally mandated parental leave for working mothers. When moms experience parental burnout it differs from the experience of workplace burnout in that it involves a sense of detachment from one’s own child and a feeling of ineffectiveness as a parent. For those already at that stage, reaching out to an integrated care team can be a great help. If you’re not quite at that stage yet, but are looking to prevent burnout, it is important to analyze how your time is being used, reassign household tasks, and prioritize your own self investment.

Juggling the responsibilities of parenthood and work can lead to a lot of physical and mental exhaustion. Before hitting the tipping point, lean into self strategy and figure out what you can do to regain more time for yourself throughout your day. 

Quotes

• “You're asking people to take care of other people, but not taking care of yourself.” (11:12-11:15 | Shelley)

• “What I would love is if burnout prevention was considered a real component of family planning.” (20:30-20:37 | Shelley) 

• “There's a lot to be said about burnout prevention or burnout strategies. Instead of saying self care, I'm talking about the self strategy of how to clean things up and lean into what is most necessary for myself right now.” (33:31-33:46 | Shelley)

• “Prior to that boiling point, you need to start thinking about your time and how much of it is consumed with all the tasks and responsibilities that you have throughout the day, in comparison to the time that you have to rest.” (36:33-36:48 | Shelley)

Links

Connect with Shelley Kemmerer:

https://runtellmom.com

https://www.instagram.com/runtellmom/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/shelleykemmererpac/

https://runtellmom.com

https://www.katemangino.com/media-page/print

https://www.fairplaylife.com/the-cards

https://www.amazon.com/Real-Self-Care-Transformative-Redefining-Wellness/dp/0593489721

Connect with Cait:

Cait Donovan is a keynote speaker, author, and host of FRIED: The Burnout Podcast, specializing in burnout, mis/match, and sustainable performance at work. She partners with corporate leaders, teams, and professional associations through keynotes, workshops, and leadership sessions that treat burnout as data, not failure, to help organizations reduce burnout without blame or shame and build healthier, high performing cultures.

To bring Cait to your organization or event, book an inquiry call here: https://bit.ly/bookcait

Learn more about Cait’s speaking work: https://www.caitdonovan.com/speaking

Short on time? Watch this 3-min video: https://bit.ly/caitdreel2025

Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm