Parenting is hard.

That is a massive understatement.

Along with dealing with stupid people, marriage management and parallel parking there are few things as challenging.  

Vivek Murthy, the Surgeon General, America’s official version of Grey’s Anatomy Dr. Derek Sheperd, is acknowledging just how difficult things are by issuing a warning, saying that raising children can be hazardous to one’s health.

It’s so challenging that nearly half of parents are completely overwhelmed by stress combined with loneliness and money woes.

Gun violence and social media add exponentially to the huge responsibility of raising kids in the 21st century.

Murthy believes there are measures our government and workplace could take that would lighten the load.

The nearsighted, old, flabby white guys in Congress need to expand the child tax credit which could give parents a break per dependent. There’s also paid family and medical leave, sick time off and making investments in healthcare, education and institutions like libraries. These are policies that parents and advocacy groups have been fighting for.

Dr. Murthy’s acknowledgment is huge!

The Democrats 2024 party platform includes free, universal preschool for four-year-olds and child care from birth until kindergarten, either for free or $10 a day, depending on income.

What does this reality do to J.D. Vance’s archaic belief that women without children are unproductive worthless female scum. They sit at home all day listening to, What’s New Pussycat, crying over not being stressed out adults who have money to travel to exotic adults only resorts.

Seriously, parenting is a highly personal decision.

I was not someone who dreamt about a big house with a white picket fence and the pitter patter of multiple little feet running all over the property.

I did luck out in combination with dedicated parenting and a great kid.

I am so fortunate to seriously have the best child who has been a dream to parent. Can you believe she slept through the night from her first day out of the womb.

I worried for years that there would be payback for being an angel.

Would she be a nightmare to parent, a wayward, rebellious child since she was a perfect baby?!

I am happy to report that the s..t still has not hit the fan (fingers still crossed), but this does not preclude worrying about her ALL the time.

I still demand notification when she arrives home or gets off a nocturnal subway ride, a text or call when her plane lands annd a full report after any and all doctor appointments, to name just a few.

Parenting is harder than being a life long New York Giants fan and living in a Coop with questionable members of the human race.

Parents, your job is incomparable. There is nothing as challenging, but never lose sight that being a parent does have an amazingly rewarding upside.

Enjoy the long holiday weekend. We shall reconnect on Tuesday.