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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