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You're listening to LifeKit from NPR.

Hey, everybody, it's Mariel.

I am not a parent, at least not yet, but having watched my friends and family raise their kids,

parenting seems to me like being in one of those batting cages, where there's a ball ejected in the direction of your face going however many miles per hour, over and over,

nonstop, except the balls are coming from every direction and you couldn't possibly hit them all.

Also, some days it feels like you're in there without a bat or a helmet.

My friends are trying to keep their kids safe and healthy.

They're trying to raise good humans with a clear sense of right and wrong. And at the same time, they're just trying to get through

the day. While one kid is pulling all the toilet paper off the roll, the other two are pulling

each other's hair, the doorbell's ringing, and dinner is burning on the stove. Parenting has always

been hard and overwhelming, but I was surprised that recent data shows in a lot of ways

it's even tougher now. Parents compared to two decades ago are spending more time at work

than they were, and this is moms and dads, that may not be surprising. But what is surprising

is that moms and dads are also spending more time in child care than they were two

decades ago. So what are they doing less of is the question. In August of 2024, then U.S.

Surgeon General Vivek Morthy, that's whose voice you just heard, issued an advisory on the

mental health and well-being of parents. The government said it was an urgent public

health issue requiring awareness and action. The advisory included a snapshot of the things that are

stressing out parents, concerns about technology and social media, safety and school shootings,

...