The surgeon general’s new warning: parents are stressed out. Black parents told us what gives them stress and how others can support them.
Parenting is hard. Which, to many, may be an understatement. The irony? We live in a world where men like Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance condemn women for not having children, all without offering realistic policy proposals to make being a parent easier.
And now U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is confirming what many of the 63 million parents with children under 18 already feel: their stress is at an all-time high. The Aug. 28 advisory on the mental health and well-being of parents detailed how some of the top stressors for parents include economic instability, concerns over children’s health and safety, parental loneliness, and difficulty managing social media.
As a result, Murthy’s “calling for a fundamental shift in how we value and prioritize the mental health and well-being of parents.” He also outlined “policies, programs, and individual actions we can all take to support parents and caregivers.”
But the advisory doesn’t specifically mention the different demographic concerns of Black and Brown communities. So, we wanted to know what Black parents are concerned about and if it is different than non-Black parents.
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