Beech Briefs #2 The Daily Podcast on "Intensive Parenting" and the U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory Statement on the Mental Health and Well-Being of Parents

Less conventional thoughts on some of the conventional recommendations for individual actions to reduce stress in parenthood

At the end of August, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released an advisory statement to highlight the “urgent need to better support parents, caregivers, and families to help our communities thrive.” On October 9, The Daily podcast released an episode called, “The Parents Aren’t Alright” in which the host, Michel Barbaro interviews Claire Cain Miller, a journalist at The New York Times, about the advisory statement.

I was touched by the number of people who reached out to me, asking my thoughts on this particular episode. I definitely have some thoughts — see below where I get all fired up about one particular suggestion for supporting new parents that I hear way too often as well as some ways that “intentional parenting” doesn’t have to mean “intensive parenting.”

As a reminder “Beech Briefs” is my new subsection of “Beech Babies” in which I treat paid subscribers to paywalled content as a way of saying: thank you for making my writing financially possible! There are still a number of available, free essays on Beech Babies and you’re always able to subscribe for free to get fresh content delivered near-weekly: