It’s no surprise that children today are suffering more stress than a generation ago. As connectivity grows, so does the amount of stressors kids face daily.
Some blame the increase in anxiety disorders in children and teens to the post 911 era, with terrorism threats prevalent on television, and the increase of negative news pushed from the media.
Add to that increased parental and societal pressures and overloaded schedules, and you have a recipe for chaos in the fragile and already confusing developmental stage that is childhood and teenage years.
Anxiety underlies most behavioral issues and struggles in children and teens. This leads to the obvious answer- decrease anxiety in the child and increase good behavior.
Anxiety is not something to be taken lightly. Left unaddressed, it can lead to serious lifelong health problems such as chronic anxiety and heart disease. 25% of 13 to 18 year olds have mild to moderate anxiety, 6% suffer severe anxiety. Girls are more likely to be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, but this is probably due to the fact females are more likely to seek medical attention than males. The average age of being diagnosed with anxiety is 11 years old, and it often is accompanies with depression.
Growing and finding yourself is already a difficult journey for kids. Lets help them focus more on what’s important by helping them learn to ease their anxiety.
Physical Symptoms
- Constant worry
- muscle tension
- physical weakness
- upset stomach
- lashing out
- bad behavior
- poor memory
- sweaty hands
- confusion
- shortness of breath
- heart palpations
- poor concentration
- too much or too little sleep
What You Can Do
As parents and teachers, it is our job to nurture and raise healthy children.
Understand
By understanding anxiety ourselves, we can recognize it in our kids and help. Stress is a normal part of life we all face to varying degrees every day, and the body's natural response to threats or danger.
Learning about the cognitive, physical, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of anxiety– such as the inability to concentrate, rapid heartbeat, short-temper, eating too much or not enough, nausea, a sense of loneliness – will make it easier for students to recognize the signs in themselves. This will empower them to seek support or advice and remain in control of their reality- which is a big thing for kids as so much is out of their control.
Let them know a bit of stress can be motivating by encouraging them to turn the energy into something positive and productive. Show them how to set realistic goals in their lives to help ease timely stress.
When a child sees that they can master things they thought was out of their control, even something as simple as setting a schedule for their day, it boosts their confidence. And alleviates stress.
Know The Facts and Kill the Stigma
Teaching the science behind mental health will diminish the stigma by showing the student that what they are experiencing is normal.
The brain goes through many changes during childhood and adolescence. Puberty is triggered by the release of kisspeptin into the body. This affects the amygdala which is the emotional center of the brain. This is what makes our feelings more intense, and why there's a sharp increase in emotional and impulsive actions during the teenage years.
Armed with the knowledge of the science behind this helps teens get past the negative reactions so they can start making responsible decisions with their prefrontal cortex.
Encourage Mistakes
The brain develops when we make and think about a mistake. It is an important part of the growing and learning process, but many kids are terrified of messing up. Let them know we all make mistakes, and it's ok.
Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness has numerous benefits for both adults and children.
There is a school in America which replaced detention with mindful meditation. It has showed an increase in good attendance and behavior.
Most importantly, be the change you wish to see.
We tend to put our children first first but in this fast paced world this can leave room to forget our own well-being. The best way we can teach our kids how to manage stress and anxiety is to show them by modelling positive behavior. They are always looking to us, even when you think they aren't.
You are perfectly imperfect! Own it! Don't be afraid to share this with your children!
They cannot be what they cannot see :)
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If you found this post after the 7 day reward period, please consider upvoting one of my recent articles
another great post, from the one and only @arbitrarykitten
I got a fever, and the only prescription is a more kitten!
You totally and shamelessly receive my full upvote for this.
;)
Oops, it's only at 75% power, but it's the fullest upvote I am capable of ;)
:)
Hope life is treating you right tonite. :)
Ha!
Yes, tonight is a beautiful one <3
Thank you. I hope yours is blessed :)
Thank @arbitrarykitten,
My night was a very good night also, know it is the morning because I went to bed over
Cheers and God bless!!
Thank you Steve. I hope your Sunday is fantastic :)
It's still surprise me just how lots of people do not know about Atoractove Secrets despite the fact that lots of people completely eliminated their social anxiety problem with it. Thanks to my mate who told me about it. I've eliminated my social anxiety for good by using natural and fast ways.
Google it!
I'm definitely checking it out. Atoractove Secrets... Thanks for the info!
This comment has received a 0.03 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
I believe the answer is simple. Stop setting such high expectations and let them be children. I watched my sister steal her son's childhood to live out her acting dreams. Did a number on him and never had a childhood. I'm sure there are many solutions, but that is one I seen a lot of before I changed cultures.
Oh my gosh yes. Just let them be kids. Stop over scheduling them with what you want them to do. Let them breathe.
I was about to write the same. As parents we should stop and think about their schedules. They work as many hours as an adult! Why asking so much? They don't need to be skilled in every sport or know every language. As teachers we should stop pressuring them to have excellent marks. We're creating can-do robots and not fulfilled people...
We are screwing up their little minds is what we are doing!
It's getting pretty bad out there...
I have to admit that I grew up as an anxious kid... and in the 1960's and early 1970's I was mostly told it was "nonsense." Which wasn't particularly helpful...and I can't remember any time in my life where I wasn't experiencing at least minor anxiety.
What's my point here? As part of this whole epidemic, the best thing we can do is teach coping skills... not dispense pharmaceuticals.
Applause Applause
Thank you= Yes. Stop the overprescibing of chemicals which only mask the symptoms.
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Nice
Thanks!
You doing great dear. Nice one
Thank you so much!
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Superb article keep it up
Happy to be inspiring :)
An interesting information and knowledge @arbitrarykitten. A great post.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it!
@minnowpondblue has voted on behalf of @minnowpond.
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Zero computer/phone use until late teens.
Hours of exercise every day- outdoors - hours.
Connect to nature/animals daily.
Playtime.
Back to zero mental health problems.
It's a chemical/synaptic issue - not societal (imo)
I agree with this- however I do believe society has built this...
100% correct.
It also means it can be dismantled...
It's easy to retract- just point at time when this wans't an issue (for me- as a teenager, there were any real problems - mid 80's- just as an example)
Simply implement identical nutrition, education, physical activity - I realize its not that simple, but I'm sure you understand the principle I'm getting at.
Set the clock back in regards to these issues .
We know at this point in time, mental health wasn't an issue in children. And lets start fro that point...
Common sense solution- rather than falling down the rabbit hole of over complicating a problem= when the chances are the solution is staring us in the face!
Oh I know. That's the thing with society tho, it refuses to go back...
I agree, the solutions are simple. But tends to be obliged by the piles of nonsense overcomplicating the issue.
(sorry for the pedantry, but I think naming 'it' as such makes it more real in peoples consciousness - even though it never can be real. A government con. )
https://steemit.com/blog/@lucylin/progressives-manipulation-and-blindness
Lol you're right. I use it as a general blanket term ;)
yea, me too - doh !
It's just easier ;) And hey- you know what I mean, right? lol
This post has received a 0.52 % upvote from @drotto thanks to: @banjo.
Hola muy buena disertación sobre el estrés infantil, aveces los adultos generamos esos niveles de estres en los niños y no nos damos cuenta, en mi querido país actualmente los niños y niñas entre 1 año y 2 añitos están siendo sometidos al estrés de dejar el pañal, por la situación que vivimos y sin darnos cuenta ellos son los que sufren las consecuencias ...gracias por compartir!
My step son gets nervous around kids who are better at something than he is, like at the skate park. If the big kids are there, he doesn't want to try for fear or being ridiculed by them. But maybe they'll help him, who knows. He also get intimidated by older kids who seem confident. He gets discouraged easily and wants to quit because he'll be upset that he's not getting instant results and will get nervous for fear of being a failure. He prefers to avoid things he's not good at rather than work at them. It's all down to some form of anxiety. Hopefully, with our help he can grow out of it. Anxiety is such a paralysing thing. He's too young to be petrified into non-action and lose out on his dreams. He's 9, so I'm confident he'll gain confidence.
Makes me sad. Far too young to have to suffer anxiety.
He's constantly bombarded by the 'need to succeed'.
Makes me so mad. I hope he can. Try having him visualize. That actually would probably do a world of good. .
Yeah, that might be a good idea. He already does a few breathing exercises, adding visualisation to the mix should be simple enough.
Yea, I think it might :) Make it fun, use some stuff I shared in this months #manifestchallenge - they are great for any age :)
Cool, I'll check it out.
Great article, @arbitrarykitten! I think a lot of it has to do with the fact we don't allow them to play anymore, they are constantly watched, supervised. Parents schedule their whole day, school, piano lesson, drawing lesson, martial arts class.....Kids don't have the time to discover who they are anymore.
This is a large part.
I grew up part year in Europe and part in California, USA. Even in CA I would leave home after breakfast, play in the foothills with the other kids, and I knew to come home when the sun started going down.
There were a number of serial killers tearing thru CA when I was a child! But the mentally was we were ok.
Now? You can't walk the street at night. You won't dare let your seven year old @arbitrarykitten run wild from dusk till Dawn...
The mentally has shifted into one of danger. And of course the children feel it, and must suffer with loss of freedoms.
I was talking about that to someone last night and they argued that things are more complicated now, more agitated, there are more cars and so on.
Thing that I don't get is, your kid has to cross the street at some point, doesn't he? and to learn to stay by himself sometimes, and just be allowed to be without supervision, cause one day he'll grow up and do those things anyway.
I think it's the job of the parent to make sure their kids are prepared to do that when the time comes.
Its definitely the job of the parent- schools do not even teach basic household budgeting, how to shop, interview, or any of the necessary little things an adult has to deal with on a daily basis.
The problem is that so many parents are so frightened of all the dangers that they enact silly laws and stifle the population. With the constant fear mongering, even the most easygoing child will feel some of it.
Beautiful - Interesting article
Thank you
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I'm happy you find it inspiring <3
You're brave to tackle such a complex problem. And, you're right, it's so important to deal with this as early as possible. In the home.
Whether we're aware of it or not, our first lessons are learned by observing our family even before we can talk. I think adults often forget how much their own behavior affects the future behavior of their children. Telling children how to behave is easy, showing them how to behave should be the real goal.
And, yes, stop drugging them!
The entire foundation of who you will be is formed before the age of six.
Thank you :)
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STOPAn useful information ang knowledge @mbo. A great post.
Thank you!
Thanks!