To say that the next generation is primarily screwed in terms of resilience

Feeling anxious, down, or worried occasionally is NOT a mental health issue. It's completely normal, just as having a twinge or a pain now and again is hardly a physical health issue.

Calling them "issues" is a big part of the problem.

Thirdly when you look at the world today's teenagers are growing up into I'm not bloody surprised they're anxious. From climate change to war to an increasingly fucked economy, I'd be surprised if any but the most privileged viewed their future with any sort of comfort.

Do you really think no previous generations had to deal with that? People were talking about climate change when I was a kid - a long time ago - there have been wars for as long as I can remember, and I have lived through several times of a fucked economy. How do you think the generations who were teens in the two WWs managed?

Wetwipe parents raising wetwipe kids. Have you seen the number of people on here who need to come and ask MN who it could be at the door if they hear a knock. Rather than just answering the door, like a normal person.

People can have individual needs without having a diagnosis.

I feel that they are under pressure from a much younger age in the last 20 years and it's showing now.

Playgroups and nursery schools are Ofted'd and have to have targets for 3 and 4 years old to make them school ready.

Primary's are rarely now infants progressing to juniors - it's all primary and learning targets from year dot. SAT's and SAT's and targets targets.
I was at primary in the late 70's 80's and it was sooo much fun! Painting, drawing, school plays, assemblies playing recorders and glockenspiels and lots of singing/someone on the piano. Our teacher read stories and we had class quizzes and learning was free and easy and not strained.

I think the pressure of modern primary 'targets' is killing the joy of learning and children are learning stress and anxiety early on. They can't cope.

Then all it takes is another life event to come along (covid/losing a family pet) and, BAM, they're fucked basically, they can't cope. Like life burnout from too much educational stress at a young age.

Government policy has been increasing the pressure in EYFS and primaries for years now. Secondary kids are exhibiting all the symptoms of being highly pressurised: burnout, anxiety, feeling of hopelessness, school refusal, isolation.

That's my personal theory anyway.

But how 'safe' an environment is school?

Every fellow pupil has a filming device in their pocket to film you making a prat of yourself before potentially posting it to the world to be taken the piss of?

Just ban the bleedin smart phones from all under 16s
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/655473

Of course everyone has mental health issues from time to time. Just as everyone has physical health issues from time to time. And the two things very interlinked.

We need to tell them to fix up, look sharp.

Its all very well mentioning work and employment issues as many posters have, and you aren't wrong, except this is the generation constantly being told AI will take all their jobs

Whats the motivator for working hard at school and developing skills to help them in the workplace when they are being told there isnt going to be a workplace

These days it seems many young people, if they don't like doing something and no-one spoon feeds them, then they just claim "anxiety" and refuse to do it.

I deal with this all day. And they all say the same things... "The work gives me anxiety, people looking at me gives me anxiety, if I dont have my phone on me it gives me anxiety, forcing me to get up for school gives me anxiety, I don't consent to this, I dont consent to that, its abuse if you make me do something I dont want to do (schoolwork)..you're triggering me/my anxiety" and on and on it goes.

Of course there are some people who genuinely suffer with crippling anxiety, it's not this many ..

You may well be right. I don't live in the UK, and had never heard of all this about not answering the door/phone or freaking out when someone speaks to them, and was frankly amazed when I started reading "how dare a stranger touch or speak to my baby" posts. I've not encountered it here.

I was in high school in the early 90s. In our year group at least 4 boys got expelled. Countless more spent their time playing truant for most of the lessons. Some would show up for school maybe once a month. There were kids sniffing glue in the woods. Kids smoking pot in the subway at lunch time. There was teenage pregnancy. Girls getting groped by the boys. Kids openly being disrespectful to teachers. Looking back loads of the kids would have been diagnosed as having SEN these days. Some of the kids spent most of their time getting told off for not doing their work. Some of the girls were so withdrawn and barely said a word. None of them had any extra support. None of the classes had a TA. If you didn't make the top set, you were left in the lower sets which were basically like Lord of the flies, with a hopeless teacher sat at the front of the classroom. Two of the lads I went to school with ended their own lives before we were 25. Two more have since.
This wasn't an inner city school. Just a normal, semi rural school.
These problems aren't new. They are just more recognised.

I haven’t read the full thread yet, but I do think you have a point OP. I’ve been teaching for 18 years and I’ve definitely noticed a difference. We have so many parents now contacting school saying their child can’t be asked to read out/have questions directed at them/speak in front of others etc. This is not all children with additional needs either. Many of these children are perfectly capable of doing these things, but they feel a bit uncomfortable so their parents contact school, speak to their head of year who then tells us we must act as if the child is not in the room. Children need to be put in uncomfortable situations in a safe environment so that they learn how to deal with these feelings. By letting them avoid it completely is doing them no favours in the long run.

Yep, social media/Internet and their access to it plays a role.

We do so much internet safety lesson and deal with so many incidents of online bullying yet every lesson they love listing the multiple apps and websites they use. Which they are nowhere near the age guidelines for. Half of the class will be on screens for 4+ hours a day in primary. And that's a weeknight.

it's cool not to be normal

I think this is actually a huge part of it. DC is just part of this generation, and has decided that it's preferable to be different.

I mean...that's pretty inevitable.

They need more freedom to make mistakes and take risks earlier on in life. Our social norms now are more towards keeping children safe at all costs, including ironically making them damagingly dependant.
Add to that social media, looming climate crisis and the imo damaging policy of school closures during lockdown you have the present situation.

I do think it's an issue. Maybe we as parents are being more 'caring' and that doesn't help build resilience. Anecdotal evidence suggests that younger people joining the workforce are much more entitled and less able to knuckle down and get on with stuff. I'm all for standing up for yourself but the employment contract works both ways.....

Covid has definitely caused huge issues and MH problems, but as OP says I think it was happening anyway. I'm torn - I definitely think we are enabling a generation of less resilient kids, by being too 'oh poor you, how dreadful' which isn't necessarily a bad thing. But equally, they do need to learn resilience and how to cope with shit, and perhaps we are failing on that front.

But the youngsters nowadays do have so much more to worry about than we ever did. Exam pressures, uni expectations (and subsequent debt) and the almost impossible chance of getting on the housing ladder, are hideous concerns that I never had to think about. Plus work is so much more more challenging - no such thing as a job for life or a decent pension.

It's a real worry - from both perspectives.

If this is accurate then they're going to get taken over by some tougher middle Eastern country/Russia.

mass global experiment of parents happily giving very young children a glowing box to carry round with them at all times, with which they can access all the world's problems, be sent pictures of penises by adults, be harassed by their peers and adults to send pictures of their intimate parts, and have their attention spans fried by games, websites and apps, deliberately designed to make them addicted and grind down their self esteem?

Agree. Its horrifying.

I agree that we need to be taught some of these skills, and I daresay my parents taught me. However, when I started my working life, many decades ago, I hated having to phone people. No-one helped me with this, and it had to be done, and so I did it and it really didn't take long for me to be able to deal with it. I used to be shy, once again I just had to overcome it, which I did. These days it seems many young people, if they don't like doing something and no-one spoon feeds them, then they just claim "anxiety" and refuse to do it. Everyone feels worried or anxious about things, but we just have to get on with it, whether we are helped by others or not.

Obviously there are still lots of wonderful young people, and I see them every day, but I do agree that resilience is lacking in others and it is worrying.

This is extremely offensive

I think this is basically it ^. We will look back in horror at the collective grooming of young people. Or maybe we won’t. That’s what scares me the most. I really feel the human race is becoming so so stupid.

I work closely with seconday aged children and most of them have complete apathy and a severe lack of motivation for anything other than social media activity. Its horribly sad.
Boys never really gave a crap about how they looked during a school day but now they constantly take hairbrushes out and obsessively comb their hair, all day. Even primary aged lads.

Well my son did this and it made his anxiety worse, not better. Ended up having a breakdown. It's not a one size fits all strategy.