Why parents dread this time of year the most

One in three parents don't think they'll have a single anxiety-free day this summer.

According to a new poll of 2,000 U.S. millennial parents of school-aged children, many find the end of the school year makes them feel exhausted (29%), anxious (28%) and overwhelmed (21%).

Those who feel stressed by the final weeks of the school year said it stems from having to figure out how to balance their work with their child's summer schedule (49%), having an unpredictable schedule (41%) and not having enough time for household tasks (37%).

Many other parents stressed by the school year's end said they're anxious about having their kids around the house 24/7 (34%), not having enough time for themselves (33%) and not having enough time to cook dinner for their family (15%).

This period of stress begins 28 days on average before the last day of the school year, sitting squarely in May. And on average, parents only start to relax 25 days after summer break begins.

Commissioned by Bob Evans and conducted by Talker Research, the study found many parents believe the final month of the school year is busier than fall break (42%), spring break (41%), winter break (37%) and even back-to-school season (35%).

More than four in five (86%) anticipate this year's end-of-year era to be just as busy or even busier than last year.

Those who state this year will be busier than last (43%) shared they plan to attend more events for their kids this year (49%), are managing their kids' schedules more (44%) and are planning more summer activities and camps for their kids (44%).

According to the survey, this busyness is leading many parents to neglect themselves. In a typical week, parents said they spend 22% of their time working, 14% sleeping, 13% preparing meals and eating, 10% driving their kids around, 9% preparing summer plans for their kids and only 8% time to themselves.

“May is stressful because as parents, we're trying to go above and beyond for our kids, balancing their schoolwork and summer schedules with an already-packed personal schedule,” said Marissa Wilson, director of marketing communications at Bob Evans Farms. “It's easy to forget something or feel overwhelmed by the number of things that need to be done before the last day of school.”

The survey found 46% of parents struggle to get time to themselves during the last few weeks of the school year. Additionally, more than one in four (27%) find it challenging to prepare dinner and sit down to eat it with their families.

Dinner struggles, according to them, are due to feeling too exhausted to cook at the end of the day (59%), running out of ideas for what to make (53%) and not wanting to deal with the prep or clean-up after (45%). More than a third (36%) said they struggle to keep their children fed toward the end of the school year while they juggle other dinner-time tasks.

In addition to that, 23% struggle to find the time to cook and 12% struggle to get dinner on the table. Parents expressed what they would find helpful to reduce end-of-school-year stress: getting more sleep (46%), having easy-to-prepare meals (42%) and having their child take on more responsibilities around the home (38%).

If they had a magic wand for end-of-school-year tasks, 36% said they'd use it to have dinner magically prepared for them and 18% said they’d use it to have summer activities or camps magically planned and coordinated for them.

“With so many things to balance, mealtime can be a major stressor for parents near the end of the school year,” said Wilson. “When parents are constantly busy with end-of-school-year tasks and activities, many can benefit from convenient meal and side options that can be prepared in five minutes or less.”

Survey Methodology

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 American parents aged 29-50 with school-aged children; the survey was commissioned by Bob Evans and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between March 10-18, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they fail quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other “please specify” options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.