U.S. Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy’s recent piece on parenting that was posted in the New York Times has received considerable media coverage. Politico titled its article on his op-ed, “Parents Can’t Function, They’re So Stressed, Surgeon General Warns.”
Indeed, Murthy claims that from his own experience, parenting has been “more stressful than any job I’ve had.” He notes that his view is shared by parents across the nation.
After painting a dour picture of parenting, he explains, “That’s why I am issuing a surgeon general’s advisory to call attention to the stress and mental health concerns facing parents and caregivers, and to lay out what we can do to address them.” He further says that we must identify “polices” and “programs” to improve matters.
This should give us pause. To be sure, parenting is stressful—there is nothing new about it—but so is work. It’s part of the human condition. Mature adults learn to deal with it. So why has the surgeon general........