March 15, 2024
It takes a village to raise a family. And mom Izzy Anaya of Manhattan’s Upper West Side is anything but short on support, reports the New York Post.
Rather than becoming burdened by the daily demands of juggling her three homes, her two sons, and a lifestyle content creation career, the unflappable mama simply delegates the more menial must-dos to her staff of hired helping hands—and it’s more than just housekeeping.
“I have two house [managers] who do everything like take my kids to after-school activities, grocery shop, cook dinner, open my Amazon boxes, fold laundry, and stand in line at the post office for me,” Anaya, 44, told the Post of her round-the-clock personal assistants, Phoebe, 23, and Sean, 29.
Overworked and overwhelmed mothers like her are saying so long to stress and hello to house managers “for the sake of their sanities.”
Nearly 23,000 men and women work as do-all aids for families in need nationwide, per Zippia, an online recruitment service. But the experts found that house managers are in the highest demand in New York City.
Christel Hyden, founder of Marigold Life Works—a personal assistant and house management service in northern New Jersey and New York City—says she and her staff of 12 are happy to take big and small tasks off of a busy mommy’s plates.
“Literally anything that our clients don’t want to do, don’t have time to do, or need a friend’s help, we’re there,” Hyden, 49, a single mom of two teens, told the Post.
In October 2021, she ditched a full-time career in public health to launch the neighborly endeavor. For $28 an hour, Hyden and her team handle duties such as dog-sitting, babysitting, house-sitting, supermarket runs, housekeeping and the occasional kid birthday party drop-off.
“I know what it’s like to have little kids, work, be enrolled in graduate school — moms can’t always do it all and they need a little extra help,” she said. “And I’m glad to provide people with the support I would have wanted when my kids were younger.”
Anaya told the Post that her support staff—Sean, whom she hired via Care.com, and Phoebe, who joined the job through a family reference, both in September 2021—minimize her hustle and bustle of Big Apple parenting.
She pays her accommodating aides around $30 an hour, and typically calls for their services between one to three days in a given week.“I couldn’t live without them,” said Anaya. “They have 100% helped me avoid mom burnout.”
And maintaining good mental health is crucial to the well-being of any mother and child. “Parenting is a complex, stressful activity that is highly susceptible to parenting burnout,” warned study authors of a February report from Shandong University in China. “Parental burnout can not only give rise to suicidal and escape ideations, but also may lead to external problems such as substance and behavioral addictions and sleep disorders.”
Researchers went on to note that kids of overtaxed moms and dads experience increased levels of anxiety and loneliness, aggressive behavior, and depression. Parental burnout can also exacerbate spousal conflict, causing one or both partners to feel less satisfied in a marriage, per the findings.
Onyi Azih, 36, a married mother of two from Houston, Texas, felt like she was “drowning” as a wife, mom and full-time health care professional in the months after the pandemic.
“I was the main breadwinner because my husband lost his job during COVID. I was taking care of the kids, squeezing in everyday tasks for myself, the family, and our house,” Azih, a psychiatric physician assistant, told The Post. “I have ADHD, so that made things even more difficult.
“My mental health was struggling, I was constantly nagging my husband and I wasn’t as present for my kids as I wanted to be,” she said.
Nearing her wits’ end in late 2022, Azih turned to local Facebook mommy groups to find house manager Kayla, 24, who’s delightfully lightened her daily load.
“My anxiety has reduced and I’m not as high-strung since hiring her,” said Azih, who pays Kayla $25 an hour for sporadically helping out in a given week.
“My husband and I can do date nights; I’m at peace knowing the laundry is done, food is in the fridge and that makeup brushes have been cleaned because of Kayla,” she explained.
“I don’t feel like I’m drowning anymore.”
Research contact: @nypost
