WASHINGTON (TND) — U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory on parents’ mental health and well-being called “Parents Under Pressure.”
It highlights that 48% of parents say that their stress is overwhelming most days compared to just 26% of adults without kids.
The biggest stressors are time demands, financial responsibilities, social media, cultural pressures, concerns about their children’s health and safety, isolation, and loneliness.
“So many parents feel that they’re carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders,” Murthy said during a recent interview.
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We’ve got to have a major culture shift in our country such that we see parenting is central to the health and well-being of society. Parental well-being is not just important for parents but the well the mental health of parents affects the mental health of kids.
“I think all the support we can get the better,” Trae Bodge, mother of one, explained.
Bodge said the COVID-19 pandemic was the hardest time for her as a parent.
“My daughter spent her whole freshman year in lockdown,” she said. “It was more emotionally and logistically that we had to make some pretty serious changes in our family.”
As I’m getting ready to send my daughter out into the world, I’m trying to think of all the things that I didn’t teach her yet, so she’ll be ready.
The advisory calls for more leave and mental well-being checks. It also advises parents to stay active, sleep, eat well, and be a part of a supportive community.
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If you are pregnant, a new mom, or a loved one of an expecting or new mom facing a mental health challenge, call or text the free Maternal Mental Health Hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (852-6262) for 24/7 confidential support in English or Spanish. If you’re experiencing a mental health crisis, call or text the free, multilingual, and confidential 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
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