Jonathan Stang, M.S., LCSW

06/26/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1BSHx3TDQr/?mibextid=wwXIfr

06/17/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18g85jSdR8/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Lots of people casually say they “like” or “don’t like” kids. But discussing children in these terms reduces them to objects, and shuts down conversations we ought to be having about their place in society, Stephanie H. Murray wrote in 2025. https://theatln.tc/L0A2V40o

🎨: Ben Kothe / The Atlantic. Source: csa-archive / Getty.

06/12/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1F9KjGXNuw/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Money is supposed to make life easier—but whether it does so for parents has become a surprisingly contentious question, Stephanie H. Murray argued in 2025. https://theatln.tc/QqsqP7nQ

Pew Research Center published a survey in 2023 that found that lower-income parents in America were more likely than middle- or higher-income parents to say that they found parenting enjoyable and rewarding “all or most of the time.” Although the difference was marginal, think pieces proliferated on the subject: People reflected, for instance, on why the most disadvantaged parents were “less exhausted and stressed and more rewarded by parenthood,” and why women with more advantages were “the unhappiest mothers.”

But many of these accounts, Murray argues, tended to downplay or ignore another important finding in that Pew report: “Lower-income parents are also more likely than those with upper incomes to say parenting is stressful all or most of the time”—and by a much bigger margin.

“Researchers do have some evidence suggesting that higher-income parents, and in particular higher-income moms, take a distinct kind of hit to their well-being that lower-income parents don’t,” Murray writes. This is “perhaps on account of heightened social pressure to engage in intensive parenting.”

Still, “asking someone how stressed or happy they felt while feeding their toddler yesterday is quite different from asking how stressful they find parenthood in general, or how satisfied they are with their life overall,” Murray argues. “The only clear deduction is that people’s feelings about parenthood are pretty complicated.”

Read more about what the research can tell us about parenting and happiness at the link.

🎨: Aksh*ta Chandra / The Atlantic

06/06/2026

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1379748784024528&id=100059682572394

Fewer children than ever are out riding bicycles on their own—and with this decline, Erin Sagen reported in 2025, kids are losing more than a potential mode of transport. https://theatln.tc/N8hJrXdZ

🎨: Maddie Fische

06/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1UCW19uvpe/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Sometimes the best thing a parent can do is nothing at all, Russell Shaw wrote in 2024. https://theatln.tc/Qmgj2pix

“I’ve spent the past 30 years working in schools, and I’ve watched thousands of parents engage with educators and with their children. Too often, I watch parents overfunctioning—depriving their kids of the confidence that comes from struggling and persevering, and exhausting themselves in the process,” Shaw writes. The problem seems to be growing more acute as parents worry that their children will be less well off than they are.

The urge to prevent our children’s suffering has led to pop-culture mythology around pushy parenting styles, including the “Helicopter Parent,” who flies in to rescue a child in crisis, and the “Snowplow Parent,” who flattens any obstacle in their child’s way.

But “a young person who grows accustomed to having a parent intervene on his behalf begins to believe that he’s not capable of acting on his own, feeding both anxiety and dependence,” Shaw continues. “If children never have the opportunity to stand on their own, we risk setting them up for a collapse later on.”

Shaw instead makes the case for a “Lighthouse Parent”: “Like a lighthouse that helps sailors avoid crashing into rocks, Lighthouse Parents provide firm boundaries and emotional support while allowing their children the freedom to navigate their own challenges. They demonstrate that they trust their kids to handle difficult situations independently. The key is learning when to step back and let them find their own way.”

Read more: https://theatln.tc/Qmgj2pix

📸: Peter Marlow / Magnum

05/26/2026

05/04/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14cQ2SpKaaa/?mibextid=wwXIfr

04/14/2026

Instead of “be careful,” parents can give their kid wings with, “be brave.”

04/14/2026

New downtown office in Hendersonville, directly below Black Bear Coffee on North Main St.