{"id":74533,"date":"2026-03-19T14:10:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:10:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/?p=74533"},"modified":"2026-03-19T14:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T18:53:08","slug":"parenting-in-a-crumbling-world-and-30-affirmations-to-help-you-through-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/canada\/en\/story\/74533\/parenting-in-a-crumbling-world-and-30-affirmations-to-help-you-through-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Parenting in a Crumbling World (and 30 affirmations to help you through it)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s March Break, kids are out of school and on the loose, and parents, we’ve got you! Need a quiet, mindful minute of your own? Check out our new guest blog, “Parenting in a Crumbling World,” the latest edition in our parenting-centred blog series, authored by Ayako Gallagher, a mother, author, and long-time friend and collaborator of Greenpeace Canada. Take a little time to breathe and get some inspiration on the challenges of raising children in a world gone mad…we see you!<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Let\u2019s be honest: parenting right now can feel like holding your child with one arm while holding the weight of the world with the other.<\/p>\n\n

Many of us are raising kids while navigating climate anxiety, political instability, rising fascism, economic stress, and systems that seem designed to keep us exhausted and disconnected. Add to that the emotional labor of parenting itself, and it\u2019s no wonder so many parents feel overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n

And yet, we\u2019re expected to do this quietly.<\/p>\n\n

Gracefully.<\/p>\n\n

Alone.<\/p>\n\n

A big reason for that is structural. Colonialism and capitalism gradually shrank the idea of family down to the nuclear household. Extended kinship networks, collective caregiving and community responsibility were pushed aside in favor of productivity and individualism. The result is something a lot of parents feel whispering in their bones: This isn\u2019t how raising children was meant to be.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

If you\u2019ve ever felt lonely, burnt out, or like you\u2019re holding way too much, you\u2019re not failing. You\u2019re feeling the absence of the village the human spirit craves.<\/p>\n\n

Grief Showing Up in Parenting<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Parenting right now carries so many layers of grief and not all of it is personal.<\/p>\n\n

Sure, I bet lots of us can relate to personal grief like mine; the loss of aging parents (my dad just died), supporting our neurodivergent children (my son is autistic), pregnancy loss (my baby Emi died in 2020) and our own physical and mental health struggles (Hello, late ADHD diagnosis, and chronic anxiety and depression). Or maybe you\u2019re single parenting, co-parenting, grieving a divorce, surviving Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sexual assault (SA) or domestic assault (DA), the list goes on.<\/p>\n\n

But alongside these personal losses, there\u2019s the grief of carrying the weight of systemic harm – even when it shouldn\u2019t be ours to carry.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Grief shows up in the loneliness we feel like we\u2019re the only ones in our community, friend group, or family speaking up against genocide or systemic oppression.<\/p>\n\n

Grief shows up in the boundary setting when we realize we\u2019d rather lose relationships instead of compromising our morals.<\/p>\n\n

Grief shows up in the questions our kids ask about the world: the big questions about fairness, harm, and safety. And in us not always knowing how to answer them in ways that feel true and protective.<\/p>\n\n

And grief shows up while we watch our children inherit a world that is often unjust and unsafe.<\/p>\n\n

Parenting doesn\u2019t happen in a vacuum, and grief doesn\u2019t either. It lives in the intersections of personal, collective, and systemic harm and it reminds us of the work we have to do and the care we\u2018re going to need to keep going.<\/p>\n\n

Affirmations Aren\u2019t About Pretending Everything Is Fine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Okay, I know the word affirmations<\/em> can make people roll their eyes a little. It can sound like toxic positivity; repeating nice things to yourself while ignoring reality. But when used differently, affirmations can actually be grounding. Hear me out.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Psychologists studying self-affirmation theory<\/em> have found that reflecting on meaningful values can help regulate stress responses and strengthen resilience during difficult situations. In simple terms, affirmations can help our brains reconnect with what matters to us and broaden our capacity when things feel overwhelming.<\/p>\n\n

They\u2019re not about convincing yourself that everything is perfect. They\u2019re about opening new neural pathways.<\/p>\n\n

And if an affirmation doesn\u2019t feel true yet, you don\u2019t have to force it.<\/em> You can soften it.<\/p>\n\n

Instead of:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI am strong.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

You can say:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI am learning to trust my strength.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Instead of:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI feel supported.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

You can say:<\/p>\n\n

\u201cI am beginning to seek the support I deserve.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Honestly, I wish someone had told me this earlier. When I first tried affirmations in my twenties, I read that you should look in the mirror and say \u201cI love you\u201d <\/em>to yourself. It took me over three months<\/em> before I could get through those three words without completely breaking down. I\u2019d either start crying or feel so uncomfortable I\u2019d stop halfway through.At the time, I thought the problem was me. Looking back, the problem was the approach. With my low self esteem, jumping straight to \u201cI love myself\u201d<\/em> felt impossible, and me \u2013 a failure. If someone had told me I could start with something like \u201cI\u2019m learning to love myself,\u201d<\/em> it probably would have been a lot less traumatic.<\/p>\n\n

Affirmations work best when they meet you where you actually are.<\/p>\n\n

Parenting as Cycle-Breaking<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

A lot of parents today are doing something really profound, even if it doesn\u2019t always feel that way day to day: they\u2019re breaking cycles.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Cycles of silence.<\/p>\n\n

Cycles of emotional suppression.<\/p>\n\n

Cycles of authoritarian parenting rooted in control rather than connection.<\/p>\n\n

Cycle-breaking often means grieving what we didn\u2019t receive and then trying to give our children something different. It\u2019s powerful work, but it can also be incredibly lonely when you don\u2019t have community around you doing the same thing. Which is why reclaiming connection matters so much.<\/p>\n\n

Reclaiming “The Village”<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

We may not be able to rebuild the full communal systems that were lost overnight, and that\u2019s not the point. The point is we can begin reclaiming pieces of them and redefining what we want family and village to look like today. Sometimes that looks like finding a handful of parents who understand the same struggles. Sometimes it means creating spaces where grief, honesty, and systemic awareness are actually welcome.<\/p>\n\n

Community doesn\u2019t have to start big. Often it begins with a few people recognizing each other and saying: me too.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

That\u2019s the spirit behind the affirmations below. They\u2019re meant to validate what many parents are feeling right now; loneliness, grief, exhaustion, while also reminding us of our power, our values, and the love guiding our choices.<\/p>\n\n

Take what resonates. Leave what doesn\u2019t. And remember you can always soften them with \u201cI\u2019m beginning to\u2026\u201d<\/em> or \u201cI\u2019m learning to\u2026\u201d. <\/em>Parenting in a crumbling world is hard. But it is also an act of devotion, imagination, and courage. And none of us were meant to do it alone.<\/p>\n\n

Two Invitations<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

One, if this article resonated with you, I\u2019m currently inviting parents to an upcoming cohort called:<\/p>\n\n

Repairing the Break: Reclaiming the \u201cVillage\u201d in a World of Disconnection<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n

It\u2019s a multi-week, virtual, safe space for parents navigating grief, systemic awareness and the loneliness that can come with raising children in a fractured world and for those who want to redefine and create community together.<\/p>\n\n

Parenting in a crumbling world shouldn\u2019t mean you have to do it alone.<\/p>\n\n

You can join the waitlist here<\/a><\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n

Two, do you want practical tools and scripts to help navigate hard conversations with your kids?<\/p>\n\n

Well, I wrote, Raising Resilient Hearts: A Parent Guide for Conversations on Injustice and Global Issues<\/em><\/strong>:<\/a><\/p>\n\n