> Many of the parents I know are deeply and profoundly unhappy.

As a childless person, I believe this is a societal problem, not a biological one. We've broken apart the tribe and made just two people (at most) responsible for most of child rearing. And worse, we pretend the parents are directly responsible for a child's safety and development at all times, even though we all know some kids are just way easier or harder to raise, right out of the box.

Smart take. Parenting used to be more communal in some ways. Now it's up to two (maybe) working parents to deal with kids.

43-yr-old parent of 2. I love them. They're amazing. But there are so many challenging moments. So many.

In those deep/profound moments of stress, I try to remind myself that the only thing I really need to do is stay calm. Allowed to have emotions, course.

But to execute some level of calm really helps resolve so much of what you experience.