Last month, a new national survey found that 66% of parents feel isolated and lonely in their parenting. Over 60%—over half of the dads and two-thirds of mothers—reported parental burnout.
If you’re anything like me, I’m betting these statistics strike a chord. Parenting is hard, and the isolation of modern parenting can take a toll on our mental health. Adding the stresses of a changing climate to a job that is already overwhelming, lonely, and profoundly under-supported isn’t exactly a recipe for thriving, resilient families.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Climate change-driven weather extremes are increasingly affecting everyone’s mental health, but parents and pregnant people will experience these impacts in unique ways. The perinatal period is already a vulnerable time for mental health, and up to 20% of pregnant and postpartum individuals are affected by perinatal or postpartum mood and anxiety disorders. When extreme weather happens, pregnant people and new parents may be at increased risk of experiencing post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.
TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT MENTAL WELLNESS RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES HIT BY CLIMATE DISASTER
Extreme weather also means school and daycare closures, and more days when smoky skies and too-hot temperatures mean that it isn’t safe for children to play outside. It’s parents who are left to navigate trying to entertain children indoors for days on end, often while trying to work. And it’s parents who are on the front lines of our children’s worries about the weather and the future, all while trying to make sense of our own emotions about what climate change means for the years and generations ahead.
The good news is that there is so much we can do to make things better, both at the individual level and the policy level.
- We can reach out to the other parents in our lives to ask a simple question: How are you, really? Nurturing human connection in these small, unassuming ways has never been more important.
- We can talk about parenting and mental health openly, to destigmatize hard conversations and remind each other that we’re not alone, even though it sometimes feels like we are.
- And we can insist that our lawmakers put money behind local community-based mental wellness and resilience programs, pushing for policy support for the social and relational infrastructure that families deserve in a changing climate.
Let us know, how will you support the mental health of parents in your community this month?
TELL CONGRESS: SUPPORT MENTAL WELLNESS RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITIES HIT BY CLIMATE DISASTER