In this week’s New York Times Op-Ed Section, Vivek H. Murthy, our surgeon general, writes, “Parents Are at Their Wits’ End. We Can Do Better.” He says that as he travels the country, parents often tell him that “they feel lucky to be raising kids, but they are struggling, often in silence and alone.”
We need to place a higher value on parenting, Murthy says, and recognize that parenting is an essential task in a healthy society. We also need government policies that reflect a commitment to parents, with better daycares, safer playgrounds, new community centers, and more flexible work arrangements for parents. Without this help, Murthy said, parents will continue to be stressed, isolated, and have mental health issues.
Murthy adds that parents today have new concerns, along with the usual concerns around money and safety. Their children have their own mental health problems and spend too much time looking at screens. Parents also compare themselves to the edited images of other families on Facebook and feel lacking.
Murthy correctly identifies a major problem in our country — intense parental stress, but he skirts around the causes and solutions. Some problems, like our unequal and inadequate school systems, are not even discussed. The problems are so severe that unless solutions are found, we are going to become an aging and feeble country without the revitalization of youth and their vigor. Right now, given the current difficulty level of parenting, it is rational to not have children. That must change.
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Apt. 11d 
Russia strategy! Screw during lunch breaks! (somehow, I am skeptical)
When pressed by a female reporter about when women are supposed to find the time to manage a family, Russia’s Health minister Dr. Yevgeny Shestopalov said, “Being very busy at work is not a valid reason, but a lame excuse.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin hugs a crying baby as he greets local residents on March 6, 2020 in Ivanovo, 230 km east of Moscow. President Putin is having a one-day visit to Ivanovo. (Photo by Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images)
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“There are people who work 12 to 14 hours – when do they make babies?” Shestopalov was asked, according to a report by Metro.
“You can engage in procreation during breaks,” he replied before adding, “Life flies by too quickly.”
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Hi. We’re trying to a create a dystopia where only an elite can live with security and comfort, a country where an independent middle class that enjoys reasonable protection under the law can’t exist. To do this, we’re working to threaten the stability of health insurance coverage, undermining the institutions that people use to help raise their kids, and starting a race war. It’s going great, except that people have stopped having the kids who will grow up to serve us.
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