Mom Totally Nails The Reason Why Parenting In 2025 Is So Much Harder Than The 90s
“The parenting part isn't really that hard. It's everything else.”
Did you just get done registering your kids for summer camp in...*checks watch* February? Yup! Me too! I was in a cold sweat, fingers shaking, as I navigated my way through the website, hoping to grab a spot. I felt the same way when I had to sign my daughter up for soccer (we didn’t get a spot), and even grabbing a “good” spot for Parent/Teacher conferences. My stomach is constantly in knots trying to do all the things as a parent.
One mom perfectly encapsulated this feeling, contributing parents’ burnout these days to everything just being so damn intense. She used her upcoming trip to Disney World as a perfect example of how much things have changed since we were kids.
“The hardest thing about parenting in 2025 is that the parenting part isn't really that hard. It's everything else,” Sarah Biggers-Stewart begins in her video.
“The amount of participation and engagement expected of parents in literally everything related to raising kids is insane, and nothing perfectly illustrates this better than this Disney trip we're going on next week and the multi-month booking process.”
Biggers-Stewart goes on to explain how she had to start reserving restaurants and activities two full months before their trip. When she missed her window after a time zone mix-up, everything good was booked.
Now, a week before their trip, she’s being asked to book lightning lane passes. If she can’t do this, she fears their trip will not live up to expectations.
“You're not going to be able to do the things you want to do, things that you used to be able to do just by paying for a park ticket and showing the f**k up to Disney,” she said before diving deeper into this narrative that parents have to do so much more for pretty much the same end result as when we were kids.
We can thank Corporate Greed for that!
“It doesn't have to be this way, and the end product we're receiving has not dramatically improved. It's just that businesses know that this is lucrative, that they can piecemeal these things and make everyone pay a premium a pay-to-play mentality, and we'll do it. We'll do it. I'm doing it!”
She consolidated that the Disney trip will surely be a magical experience no matter what because (duh!) It’s Disney, but planning the trip made her think about what this kind of planning was like for her own parents two or three decades ago.
“I've had multiple moments along this process of being like, ‘Was the magic just being young and not knowing how hard things were behind the scenes for my parents?’ And a portion of that is absolutely true, but my parents have said, ‘No, you could just like show up to Disney. You just like showed up, booked your hotel, bought your ticket, and everything else worked out.’ Nothing is like that in 2025. Nothing. Everything is the most intense version that requires the most effort and participation. That is why parents in 2025 are burnt the f*ck out.”
After her video gained traction, several TikTok users validated her sentiments.
“Yess! I can’t even take my kids to free public library programs without the sign up being weeks in advance, if you miss it it’s full,” one mom shared.
Another shared, “Even things like getting your kids a Christmas themed shirt for a concert and the stores are like, ‘yeah were doing Valentines now you needed to be here 6-10 weeks ago when our Christmas stock was in.’”
One user said, “My parents didn’t take me to Disney as a kid and I still love them and had a great childhood. If it’s making you miserable is it worth it?”
The OP replied, “I’m not miserable! Just overwhelmed and sad that it’s like this now when I know for a fact it wasn’t like this 20 years ago.”
Spoiler alert and huge bummer: the OP went on their Disney trip and...she wasn’t exactly living in the magic. Maybe things will just never the same as they once were!
