Opinion: We now have a generation of parents who believe that, never in the history of the world has so much been asked of parents.

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I can talk about this now as Thanksgiving is over and I can probably recover before Christmas rolls around. I figure I can state my case and then duck and run for cover. It’ll take about 10 weeks for what my kids will consider to be crass insensitivities to be downgraded to “just ignore her” status. But by then, it’ll be turkey time and all will be forgiven. Or, more likely, replaced with something they will consider equally reprehensible.

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I’m talking about that warning that Dr. Vivek Murthy, the American surgeon-general, recently issued. The one where he says being a parent is hard. If ever licence was given for a yodel-fest of self-pity, this is it. We now have a generation of parents who believe that, never in the history of the world has so much been asked of parents.

The title of the report is The Surgeon General’s Advisory On The Mental Health And Well-Being of Parents. The findings are — hold onto your hat — that 33 per cent of parents report high levels of stress, compared to 20 per cent of other adults, and that parenting is stressful.

Murthy’s findings were issued as an “advisory”. It seems that the American surgeon-general has three levels of alarm bells he can sound. In descending order, they are “reports”, “calls to action”, and “advisories”. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “advisories” are “public statements that call the American people’s attention to a public health issue and provide recommendations for how that issue should be addressed.”

Murthy identifies the “tremendous pressures from familiar stressors such as worrying about their kids’ health and safety and financial concerns, to new challenges like navigating technology and social........

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