MANILA, Philipines — Parents today are taking better care of their children by honoring their emotions, practicing positive parenting, and building relationships based on trust and respect.

That’s because parents are taking better care of themselves, too.

Young parents have to deal with many responsibilities — raising children, managing their household, handling work and their finances, and taking care of their health. In today’s digital age, social media users are also inundated with harmful content, leading to worsening mental health among the youth.

But parents can still find bright spots in today’s digital landscape. 

Parenting influencers in the Philippines are encouraging audiences to prioritize the emotional well-being of their children. They’re also reminding fellow parents to treat themselves with kindness when adult life gets a little too overwhelming. While these influencers understand that raising families has its ups and downs, parents can still build emotionally intelligent relationships and live healthily and meaningfully.

This is among the findings of The Nerve’s latest digest report, which studied parenting influencers in the Philippines and the topics they discussed in 2024.

The Nerve’s digest report was developed using Influence IQ, a data solution that enables measurable and transparent understanding of influence in your industry, with granularity and scale. Influence IQ can help you scope out the most influential voices in your industry, select influencers to invest in for your campaigns, and audit the impact of your campaigns in your digital landscape.

Emotional intelligence and positive parenting

Apart from financial and physical readiness, today’s couples prioritize emotional readiness when they start a family. Parenting influencers in the Philippines opened up about their imperfections and encouraged apologizing to their children when they’re in the wrong. These posts garnered up to 4,700 engagements on Facebook.

Apart from financial and physical readiness, today’s couples prioritize emotional readiness when they start a family. Parenting influencers in the Philippines opened up about their imperfections and encouraged apologizing to their children when they’re in the wrong. These posts garnered up to 4,700 engagements on Facebook.

Positive parenting, characterized by clear communication and mutual respect between parents and their children, also emerged as an alternative to corporal punishment. In more recent years, younger couples began embracing gentle parenting, where parents do not immediately condemn their children for their mistakes and instead respond sensitively to their emotions. Both styles of parenting aim to foster more emotionally intelligent relationships in the family.

Annalyn De Guzman Capulong, associate professor at the University of the Philippines Diliman Department of Psychology, attributes this to two things — the digitizing of society which made information more accessible, and young parents being more reflective of their own experiences as children.

“Because of the access of information, I think younger parents became more aware of how to practice positive parenting. This could also come from their personal experiences, which could have been not so nice…. So sometimes, parents try to change whatever they didn’t like with their own parents,” she explained.

Capulong drew from her personal experience raising two sons. She noticed that Filipino adults don’t often empower children to exercise their own agency, and often shut them out of what they deem to be grown-up conversations.

“Traditionally, in our culture, we think that if they’re just a kid, they don’t know much…. I told myself, when I become a parent, I will empower my children. So my children, now 16 and 20, can express their opinions. Those shifts happen because of the changing views of new parents,” she said.

Self-care important for parents, too

Not only did parenting influencers talk about their families, they also shared stories and personal posts about their everyday lifestyles. Lifestyle-related posts often promoted holistic well-being where self-care is equated to family care, especially for mothers.

On Facebook, 78% of posts talking about beauty, fashion, and wellness were shared by mom influencers. Brands even promoted their products, events, and services to mothers using messages anchored on rewarding and treating oneself for their hard work.

Capulong said the concept of self-care regained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was marked by high levels of stress and the blurring of boundaries during lockdowns.

“During the pandemic, especially if you’re a working mom, there were no clear boundaries between [your family life] and work, because you did everything at home. And if your child had online classes, that was also another source of stress and anxiety brought about by the pandemic,” she explained.

This also brought about big conversations on taking care of one’s mental health and well-being. After all, parents cannot pour from an empty cup, Capulong said.

“People became more aware that self-care is important. I have to make sure I’m okay before I can take care of my children,” she added.

Advice from communities, support groups

Parents don’t always have the answers when it comes to raising children. Now, parenting influencers fill that gap by sharing expert tips, advice, and personal stories on a variety of topics. Influencers would often talk about children’s health and development, pregnancy symptoms, and all kinds of relationships.

On Facebook, these topics took up about a quarter of all posts from parenting influencers in the Philippines. These influencers included moms and dads, health experts, and parenting websites.

This was another advantage of the digital landscape that made information more accessible, Capulong said. Among the types of social media accounts followed by Philippine-based users, influencers and other experts ranked second, just behind friends and family. Over 44% of social media users in the country follow influencers and other experts who can provide tips and advice to their audiences.

“In the pre-digital age, if you’re a parent and you’re tired, you have to literally go to libraries or meet someone to get support…. Now, it’s easier to get support in the digital world because you don’t have to go out of your house — you can type and learn so many things,” she explained.

Social media also helped broaden the networks of parents seeking support groups and communities. 22.8% of Philippine-based users mainly go on social media to share and discuss opinions with like-minded people one can meet online.

“Back then, parents’ networks were often limited to, say, the parents of your children’s classmates in school…. So you see how the digital landscape changes that, where support groups for parents are now at our fingertips,” Capulong said.

Despite the growing influence of content creators and online communities focused on parenting, Capulong stressed that parents from lower-income households may not have access to the same resources.

“They might also have not-so-ideal experiences from their own parents…. They need more help in terms of guiding their children because they have less resources, less education. So I think there should also be a [movement] for that,” she said.

Capulong added that digital citizenship should be taught to parents in middle adulthood, as they may have difficulties adjusting to the digital landscape and finding parenting communities online.

“Parenting — before and during the digital age — is very overwhelming. But we just need to continue educating parents to empower them,” she said. — Rappler.com

‍Quotes in Filipino were translated into English and some were shortened for brevity.

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This story was originally published on Rappler on April 30, 2025. It was made in collaboration with The Nerve, a data forensics company that enables changemakers to navigate real-world trends and issues through narrative and network investigations. Taking the best of human and machine, we enable partners to unlock powerful insights that shape informed decisions. Composed of a team of data scientists, strategists, award-winning storytellers, and designers, the company is on a mission to deliver data with real-world impact.

Gain a measurable and transparent understanding of influence in your industry, with granularity and scale through Influence IQ. For more information, reach out to The Nerve today.