New research has revealed that parents in the North West are the most likely to be afflicted by parental guilt in Britain.

The research, conducted by name label manufacturer My Nametags, found that 84 per cent of North West parents experienced parental guilt.

According to the study British mums felt guilty eight times more per month than dads on average.

With current COVID-19 restrictions placing families under new and unique pressures, these levels of guilt are at an all-time high.

In fact, almost three quarters of UK parents felt additional guilt due to the lockdown measures.

The most common cause of parental guilt in the North West was allowing children to have too much screen time, with half of parents in the region feeling guilty for letting their youngsters spend too much time on their iPads or in front of the TV.

This was followed by losing their temper with their children and not playing with them enough (42 per cent), giving them easy meals instead of cooking from scratch (37 per cent) and not spending enough quality time with them (37 per cent).

However, the study found that this guilt was often disproportionate. While almost half of British parents felt guilty about losing their temper, only 38 per cent believe this negatively impacted their children. Similarly, while over a quarter felt guilty about giving their children quick and easy meals, only 14 per cent think this genuinely effected their children’s wellbeing, demonstrating that parents even feel guilty about things that they don’t believe have an impact on their children.

Commenting on the findings, Parenting Expert Bea Marshall says: "Guilt is common among all parents and yet it actually makes it harder for us to parent in the ways we aspire.

"Guilt stems from our fears that how we raise our children may impact their futures.

"These may be fears about physical and mental health, relationships and social success or financial independence.

"Our worries may also be related to what others think of us and our children.

“There is no such thing as a perfect parent and fears that we are falling short lead to guilt.

"The differences we see between males and females are likely due to multiple factors such as differences in parenting responsibilities and professional commitments, but also due to the different ways men and women navigate parenting.

"Women often carry a full mental load leading to constant thinking and emotional responses, whereas men are more likely to think about, and act on, one thing at a time leading to a smaller emotional response."

Lars B Andersen, Managing Director at My Nametags said:: “At My Nametags, we speak to hundreds of thousands of parents every year.

"With the current global situation putting parents under more pressure than ever before, we were interested in exploring the concept of parental guilt.

“We were intrigued to find that parents from all areas of the UK feel guilty about a huge number of things, from not spending enough time with their children, to not ironing their clothes.

"We hope that our research highlights that there is no need for parents to be so hard on themselves, and that opting for convenience, such as using stick-on name labels or cooking using pre-prepared ingredients, will not have a negative impact on their children, and may save them an awful lot of stress.”