Follow for more expert parenting strategies and guidance! Speaker: Dr. Gabor Maté Source: Feel Better Live More - podcast with Dr Rangan Chatterjee Rangan Chatterjee I often give this reminder to parents. Parenting feels hard because it is hard. I'm always fascinated by Dr. Maté's views on the evolution of parenting. Here he talks about the community around parenting in the past and how much help parents would have in taking care of and raising their children. This is a bit of a lost art in a lot of the world, but the US in particular. Not only do parents not get a lot of support from family or friends in the actual raising of their children, but parents often live nowhere near their extended family. It's not realistic to get a lot of help from Grandma and Grandpa if they live 500+ miles away. In some countries, it is still very normal to live near family members and get a lot of direct support after having a child. Again, not true in many places including America. Combine this lack of physical support with most families requiring two incomes and the insanely stressful pace of life, and you end up with burnt out parents that struggle to be all they can be for their children. We know this has an impact. So what can we do. A couple things I take from this video are (1) we truly can't blame parents too much for the busyness and stresses of life because many of us are doing our best, and (2) it will benefit you and your family to try to work on the things mentioned here that is controllable - pace of life and your own mental health. An intentional effort to reduce all of the commitments and things from our calendar that are inducing all this stress can be insanely valuable, particularly while your children are young and demand so much of your time, effort, and attention. I believe a lot of us could benefit from some simplification of life, and for those who don't have a lot of communal support, it may be a requirement for your child's development (and your sanity). Share this post with another parent who needs to hear it!