by Katie Garrity

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School is in session (or starting soon), and that means … so many f**king emails!

From Home & School newsletters to soccer practice schedules to that one email from your kids teacher with the list of what color they’re supposed to wear each day for two weeks (Is today pink or blue?), there is a lot to keep track of. It’s no surprise that we let some balls drop. Even in a digital world where organization can be a bit more tangible, we still can miss things.

In fact, a recent study showed that 6 out of 10 parents and caregivers (62%) admit to missing an important event or detail in their email inbox.

The study, conducted by Yahoo and Censuswide, surveyed over 2,000 parents and caregivers with school-aged children on how they feel about their personal email.

According to the study, the average parent is receiving about four emails a day related to their children and their school and extracurricular activities, this adds up to about 20 emails a week, or over 80 emails a month.

The data revealed parents struggle with how many emails are sent, particularly when it comes to school and extracurricular activities for their kids. Twenty-nine percent of parents surveyed admitted their personal email is actually more stressful than their work email with some avoiding their inbox altogether.

The average parent surveyed has up to 2,800 unread emails at any given time. And, just under half (48%) of them wish they could have an “out of office” on their personal email inboxes. Almost a third (29%) of respondents find their personal email more stressful than their work email.

The majority surveyed (56%) said they receive too many emails, and nearly one in four (22%) can never find the email they’re looking for leading to overwhelm and stress.

Is there an over-communication problem between parents and school? Or are we just involving our kids in too much?

Over half (52%) feel overwhelmed by their personal email inbox, with 49% agreeing that their personal email adds to their mental load as a parent. Over one-third (37%) of parents even said that email interferes with quality family time, leading to guilt.

Seventy-one percent of parents admitted to feeling like bad parents when they miss important information about their children. Let’s be real, how many of us have felt like absolute garbage when we showed up to school and forgot it’s PJ day or spirit week? This is so real!