What’s Making Our Kids Anxious?

by Linda Stade

''More people suffer from anxiety today than did during the Great Depression. Particularly young people. The first time I heard that I was stunned. How is that even possible? But then it is borne out in the research. 1 in 5 females suffers anxiety and the number of 15/16 year olds with the condition has doubled in the last 30 years. It seems we are a bit of an anxious mess.

In asking the ‘why?’ question, there tends to be a fear of blame. Whose fault is this? That is not the aim here. Parenting is hard. Teaching is hard. And nobody is setting out to make kids anxious. In fact, some of it can be genetic or chemical or just life being particularly tricky. But, by looking at some of the factors that contribute to the problem, we may see adjustments we can make which might make life a little easier for anxious kids...''