Actress Sania Saeed has never shied away from speaking about difficult subjects, and her recent appearance on Nida Yasir’s morning show was no exception. The episode, dedicated to the disturbing rise in cases of parents harming their own children, including a woman accused of violently killing her son and daughter, and a father drowning himself and his children, both in Karachi, turned into an urgent conversation on how mental health, often ignored in Pakistan, plays a critical role in parenting.

“Most people in our country aren’t capable of parenting. Not every couple deserves a child. Not every couple at every point deserves a child. Because are they themselves prepared for that child? Is their relationship sorted? Do they know each other enough? Are they mature enough to cope with problems and responsibilities?” the actress asked.

She added, “A person who can’t even be responsible for themselves, a person who is already dealing with issues, and people here don’t even go to mental health professionals, how can that person take on the responsibility of a child? Even if their mental health symptoms are manageable.”

Parenting, Saeed argued, isn’t just about providing food and shelter; it’s about having the emotional capacity to nurture another life, something that cannot be done when one is struggling to cope with their own.