What started as a useful tip on social media has turned the US psychologist and mum of three into a parenting phenomenon and the voice of reason for a generation of young mums and dads

Talking to Dr Becky Kennedy today requires flexibility – the kind of flexibility that many of us parents have had to hone pretty well during the pandemic. My five-year-old daughter is off from school with her first bout of Covid, which means I have to take Kennedy’s Zoom call from the bedroom. Kennedy’s own seven-year-old daughter is also at home with a fever and sore throat; luckily her husband has stepped in to help oversee childcare, so she’s got an hour to speak.

The slapdash situation feels apt: Kennedy, a clinical psychologist from New York who specialises in parenting, experienced a rapid rise to prominence during the pandemic when young parents suddenly found themselves at home with their children and in desperate need for a hand to guide them through it. Kennedy had never even posted on Instagram when Covid-19 first emerged, but on 28 March 2020, two days after lockdown measures came into force in the UK, she wrote a message to her 200 followers that changed her life. It read: “Most young kids will remember how their family home felt during the coronavirus panic more than anything specific about the virus. Our kids are watching us and learning about how to respond to stress and uncertainty. Let’s wire our kids for resilience, not panic. How? Scroll for some tips.”