Parenting and Academia: Managing the Mental Load: How do we juggle work life balance when “life” comes with such a huge mental load? When the family to-do list is three mes as long as the work to-do list and it is you feel like you are always the one that has to remember. The thinking part of having children is permanent and it’s exhausting. It’s invisible, unmeasurable and often inescapable. How do we thrive at work whilst navigating the worry and guilt of managing a family at home? How do we learn to share the planning and management of our homes and not just the delegation of a never-ending task list in our minds? It is possible.