The Path to Lower Parent Stress and Improved Child Mental Health: Autonomy (con`t)

Parent stress doesn’t just matter to us; our children’s psychological lives depend on it, too. Despite dominant cultural messages that being a “good” parent means centering our children’s needs, this is at odds with the well-established downstream effect of parent well-being or ill-being on children. Like how yelling at our children is not a strategy but a reaction, acting controlling with our children is often a stress response, not an effort to undermine their autonomy.

Although rarely discussed in the headlines about the youth mental health crisis, effectively addressing youth mental health requires paying more attention to parents Parents do not need to worry more, get more involved in their children’s lives, or focus more on their children to support their mental health. In the current cultural moment, parents need permission to address their stress and anxiety so they can more intentionally support their children’s well-being throughnurturing theirautonomy and,along withit,psychological health.

Structural changes beyond what we can do in our homes are crucial for alleviating crushing stress and bolstering mental well-being for us and our children But we must also work from the insideouttomakechange,exerting influenceoverourfamilies

We can collectively invite autonomy-supportive parenting into the mainstream as a path forward for both parents and children. We can admit there is no secret path to easier parenting, but aiming for more autonomy and psychological health for all of us is possible and necessary.

Emily Edlynn, PhD is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in pediatric health psychology who works in private practice with children, teens, and adults. Emily’s writing has appeared in the Washington Post, Parents, Scary Mommy, Good Housekeeping, Motherly, Psychology Today, and more. Her first book, Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent Confident Children, earned an Indies Foreword award for a best book in 2023. She also writes about modern parenting in her Substack newsletter (Parent Smarter, Not Harder) and co-hosts the popular Psychologists Off the Clock podcast.

For further information please visit: https://www emilyedlynnphd com/ emily@emilyedlynnphd.com

Podcast: Psychologists Off the Clock co-host Substack: https://emilyedlynn.substack.com/ Books: Autonomy-Supportive Parenting: Reduce Parental Burnout and Raise Competent, Confident Children In Your Feels: A Journal to Work Out Your Emotions (for kids)