If you’re a parent, chances are you are stressed out.
Over the last decade, parents have been consistently more likely to report experiencing high levels of stress compared to other adults, according to a new U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory.
The advisory states that 33% of parents report high-stress levels in the past month, compared to 20% of other adults.
“As moms, we know this is the hardest journey we are all going through,” said Amanda Fournier with the MOMS Club of Southern Macomb County, a support group for MOM. “We are all just figuring it out.”
In the United States, approximately 63 million parents live with children under 18, and millions of additional caregivers are primarily responsible for caring for children.
U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy said in addition to the traditional challenges of parenting, there are new stressors that previous generations that didn’t have to consider.
“I hear from a lot of moms that the support that our parents are getting growing is not the support we are seeing now,” Fournier said.
According to the advisory, parental stressors include financial strain, time demands, children’s health and safety, parental isolation and loneliness, technology and social media, cultural pressures, and children’s future.
“The biggest thing I’m hearing right now is childcare, not only the cost of childcare but finding childcare,” Fournier said.
The mental health of parents can have an impact on the well-being of children, according to the advisory.
They may face heightened risks for symptoms of depression and anxiety and for earlier onset, recurrence, and prolonged functional impairment from mental health conditions.
“You want to make sure that you are getting the emotional support, be it through therapy, be it through community, be it through whatever you feel is beneficial to you, so you can be in a position to parent that child from a place of emotional strength,” said Clinical Psychologist Dr. Rose Moten.
She said some parents have been experiencing stress for so long that they have normalized it.
“Symptoms of you being stressed can be anything for emotional, just the feeling of stressed, just the feeling of being overwhelmed, it can be physical as well, difficulty sleeping, appetite changes,” Dr. Moten said.
To help ease the pressure on parents, the surgeon general is calling for promoting and expanding funding for programs supporting parents, caregivers, and their families, establishing a national paid family and medical leave program, and ensuring all workers have paid sick time.
Click here to read the U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory.
Tiesha Johnson, 56, of Farmington Hills, a former analyst for the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, pled no contest in the 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County to fraudulently obtaining Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) Loans and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) from the federal government.