close
close

Why modern parenthood feels harder than ever before – and what to do

If you ever felt like feeling modern parenthood Is an extreme sport, you are not alone. The Tikok creator Sarah Biggers-Stewart only put the exhaustion that so many parents feel-and their difficulties about A Disney The journey of all things has been home since thousands.

In her viral video, Sarah breaks up the sheer quantity of planning, booking and logistics that only your children have to bring to it The happiest place on earth– something your own parents … act. No lightning marks, no pre -booked food, no 6 a.m. months in advance, just to get a half decent reservation.

“The most difficult thing about parenting in 2025 is that the parent is not really that difficult. It is everything else. “

And that “everything else” is a quick cooking pot of endless decisions, planning and participation expectations of sports leagues who treat 7-year-olds as if they are D1 athletes up to the classroom signup-madness where working parents are somehow expected.

Parents not only raise children in 2025. They manage them – on a 24/7 hamster wheel of optimization, planning and implementation. And Spoiler alarm: It is not just in your heads.

Related: Modern parenthood is exhausting – I give my children a summer with the 80s

The numbers are not lying: parenting is now really more difficult

Sarah's video strikes because it is not just about Disney. It is about the massive changes in parent culture – and the fact that the financial, social and emotional burden on parents is now objectively heavier than before a generation. Here are the data to prove it:

  • The costs for the upbringing of children have been raised: One of the published study Brookings institution found that The average costs for the upbringing of a child to 18 years are now estimated at 310,605 US dollars. That is 100,000 US dollars more than in the 90s, adapted for inflation.
  • Childcare costs are out of control: In 2023, a study published in which was published Economic Policy Institute found The Infant support costs more than tuition fees in the state of College In 34 states. Full-time daycare center now average $ 11,000 a yearper child.
  • The housing costs have exploded: After US censusIn 1990 the average house price was 120,000 US dollars. In 2025? It's over 417,000 USD. That means that today's parents need today much more income Just to afford the same bourgeois lifestyle that their parents had.
  • Overparking culture is real: In the 90s, The free -range posture was the norm. Today? A mother in Georgia was arrested Because she was going to store her 14-year-old son alone, he was old enough to go to babysitting.

And this does not even affect the mental charge of parenthood in the digital age – where children have unlimited freedom online, but almost none in real life in which parents are expected to pursue, monitor and optimize every aspect of their child's life, and where somehow they are still expected to report to the sale of schoolback.

How do parents survive 2025?

If you feel that burnout is baked in modern parenthood, you are not alone. And although we cannot magically turn the watch back at a time when children are in the children showed themselves to the football practice and did not need protein recording discussionsHere are a few ways to push the chaos back:

  • Do less, tele: You don't have to do everything. Your child's childhood will not be ruined when you Skip the Pinterest-worthy birthday party, reject the additional classroom obligation or say no to an over-planned life.
  • Find your parent village: Whether it is Family, friends or an online communityhave a real The support system (one that you don't just put pressure on, do more to do) makes a big difference.
  • Press the restructuring back: Not everything has to be maximized, monetarized or micr -naged. Sometimes it's fine to be just to be show– also at Disney.
  • Remember: you do enough: Your parents did not have to juggle school apps, summer camp deposits and constant registrations to be good parents. Not either.

At the end of the day, The best we can do for our children is not to manage every moment – it is actually to enjoy them.

Sources:

  1. The increasing costs for the upbringing of children. Brookings. 2024. “It becomes more expensive to raise children – and the government doesn't help much to help.“”
  2. Childcare costs in the USA Economic Policy Institute. “Childcare costs in the USA. “”
  3. Historical home values ​​in the USA US Census Bureau. “Medium house values ​​over time. “”