Parenting in 2025
Why You Feel So Overwhelmed (And What Might Actually Help)
Let’s be honest. Being a parent right now feels impossible a lot of the time. You might feel like you're failing, or like everyone else is somehow keeping it together while you’re just getting through the day on caffeine and guilt. Most of the parents I know are exhausted. They’re overstimulated, undersupported, and constantly worried that they're not doing enough—even when they’re doing everything.
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone. According to the U.S. Surgeon General’s Office, over 40% of parents report being too stressed to function most days. Nearly half say they’re just trying to survive the demands of daily life. That tracks. Parenting in 2025 is happening inside a pressure cooker. You're trying to raise emotionally healthy children in a world that often feels unrecognizable from the one we grew up in. There are moments where the whole thing feels absurd. You can be in a work meeting one minute and wiping yogurt off the walls the next, then lying awake wondering if your kid is making enough friends or if they’re already internalizing messages you haven’t even had time to talk to them about yet.
And while social media has made it easier than ever to share parenting “content,” it hasn’t exactly made people feel more supported. If anything, it’s raised the stakes. Now you’re supposed to be emotionally attuned, developmentally informed, screen aware, nutrition conscious, and available 24/7—without showing signs of burnout. Good luck with that.
Many of the parents I work with don’t come to therapy because something dramatic has happened. They come because the daily rhythm of family life has started to feel like a never-ending series of mini-crises. Everything becomes a negotiation. Getting dressed. Doing homework. Putting down the iPad. Brushing teeth. The meltdowns are louder, the emotions are bigger, and the repair feels harder. You might start to feel like you’re always on edge. Maybe your kid is withdrawing. Maybe they’re getting more defiant. Maybe you’ve gotten so good at powering through that you didn’t even notice the shift until someone else pointed it out.
This is where therapy—especially play therapy—can be transformative. A lot of people think therapy is for when things are really bad. And yes, therapy can be lifesaving in crisis. But it can also be incredibly helpful long before things reach that point. Kids don’t always have the words to explain what they’re feeling. So they act it out instead. Through play, they can show us what’s bothering them. They can work through things that might feel too big or confusing to say out loud. Over time, therapy helps them feel safer in their own bodies and minds. It helps them regulate. It helps them relate. And it helps you feel like you're not carrying the entire emotional weight of your family on your own.
Parents benefit from therapy too. You get someone in your corner. Someone to think things through with. Someone who can help you understand the difference between a typical developmental hiccup and something that needs more support. You get to pause. You get to breathe. You get to remember that you're doing the best you can with the tools you’ve been given—and that getting support is part of parenting well, not a sign of failure.
If you’ve been wondering whether your child might need help, or if your home life has started to feel tense more often than not, it’s okay to reach out. You don’t have to do this alone. Therapy doesn’t solve everything, but it can give your family more space to breathe, reconnect, and move forward with a little more ease. And sometimes, that can make all the difference.
References
Pew Research Center. (2023, January 24). Parenting in America today. https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2023/01/24/parenting-in-america-today/
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. (n.d.). Surgeon General’s Advisory: Supporting the mental health of children and youth. https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/reports-and-publications/parents/index.html
Statista. (2025). Stress levels of parents in the United States - 2025 survey results. Retrieved June 18, 2025, from https://www.google.com/search?q=stats+about+parenting+stress+in+2025
