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Adults often seem to think they are the only people in the world who experience stress, but children feel it, too – and now more than ever. In light of April being Child Abuse Prevention Month, we owe it to them to find out why and do something about it.
It’s easy to assume that young children, and babies in particular, are less susceptible to stress than older kids, according to a report in The New York Times, but even children as young as 3 months old can sense when their parents are angry or sad. If your child’s routines have been disrupted during the pandemic or if your family is coping with divorce, illness, job loss, mental health problems, substance abuse or a death in the family, it’s normal for little ones to regress.
Older kids are also struggling. In a recent American Psychological Association survey of more than 1,000 U.S. teenagers ages 13-17, 43 percent said their stress levels have increased over the last year. When teens are stressed, they might hide their worries because of “fear, shame or a sense of responsibility to avoid burdening others.”
Perhaps that’s one reason why U.S. citizens are spending an increasing amount of time alone. A study by the American Time Use Survey from 2009-19 shows people are spending twice as much time alone today as they did a decade ago, and it’s only gotten worse as they get older.
Who’s losing that time? Our children.
Studies show that children without a strong support system of family and friends are most vulnerable to predators, online or otherwise, who know just the right words to say to manipulate their trust. Yet, that support system is hurting, as families are facing extraordinary stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic, economic uncertainty, political tensions and school changes, none of which is likely to significantly improve soon.
Think about how dramatically different things are since the Class of 1983. When folks in my generation reached adult age, we didn’t have to worry about getting a job – they were plentiful. We didn’t have to worry about finding a place to live – there was something decent out there we could afford. We didn’t even have to worry about things like gas money – after all, 50 cents in the tank back then would make sure you got home safely after cruising the streets downtown on weekend nights.
The American Psychological Association survey also revealed that physically abusive families were significantly more often low income, had younger mothers with less education, more frequently reported a family history of child abuse and were more likely to be abusing
alcohol or drugs. As you might guess, children from abusive households had significantly more behavior problems.
Instead of constantly complaining about the younger generation, we need to acknowledge that the world they are growing up in is not the same as the one we did. It’s a lot more challenging to move from childhood into being an adult than it used to be. And not everyone has the same simple advantages that we may have had.
Most of all, we need to offer these children a hopeful vision of the future. As pastor Pete Wilson said, “We can’t live without hope. When we keep hoping, we keep living.”
David Brown is publisher & editor of the Cherokee Scout. You can reach him by phone, 837-5122; email, dbrown@cherokeescout.com; or message him on Twitter @daviddBstroh.