What are the most pressing problems they face in their daily lives?
The stress many parents feel every day is exhausting and now a public health problem that requires urgent treatment, the United States’ Chief Medical Officer has announced.
Major new research reveals just that About half of US parents experience extreme stress on a daily basis. The main stressors affecting them are:
Financial problems, financial insecurity, poverty
- Lack of time
- Health and safety of their children
- Social isolation and loneliness
- Technology and social media
- Social pressures and worry about the future of their children
according to the information released by Dr. Vivek Murthy, Surgeon General of the United States, One in three parents experience high levels of stress, compared to 20% of other adults.
Additionally, 48% of parents surveyed said the stress they feel in 2023 is often exhausting. Among the remaining adults, the corresponding percentage is 26%.
Intertwined with children
Dr. Murthy emphasized that this situation can have serious consequences by affecting the mental health of children. “The well-being of parents/guardians is linked to the well-being of children,” he said. “The anxiety experienced by parents today is directly and indirectly transmitted to children. So it has far-reaching implications for families and local communities.”
Dr. Murthy noted that parenthood has never been easy. But changes in modern societies have made it even more difficult.
“As technological and economic forces change our world at breakneck speed, it is increasingly difficult for parents to prepare children for a future they cannot understand or predict,” he said.
The internet and social media in particular have created a “comparison culture” that parents struggle to control. This culture creates unrealistic expectations for children and destroys the family.
They need help
Stressing that parents need help to deal with all this stress, Dr. Murthy. He said that the first thing that needs to be done is to change the society’s attitude towards the importance and challenges that parents face. “It’s a normal, full-time job, no less valuable than paid work, but infinitely more important because we’re talking about the future of our society,” he said.
For this reason, local communities must do more to reduce the burden on parents. He e.g. to appoint parental leave when the child is ill. Access to day care and mental health services for children could also be increased. Spaces and initiatives that would strengthen social cohesion could still be created.
And parents should start expressing their stress openly without shame or inhibition. This is the only way to finally get rid of the noise that drowns them.