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

I've worked with children from all backgrounds for 18 years and fully agree with op. Its absolutely horrendous. For many, they can hardly function day to day, compared to a few years ago.

Everything is a 'trigger' and 'gives them anxiety'. Everyone needs a fidget toy to help their anxiety and need constant breaks and 'room to breathe'.. I've never seen anything like it before and its getting worse.

I do think there is an element of oppression Olympics at play. Perhaps even unconsciously so.

I agree completely.

Im not using covid as an excuse but as part of the piece of the puzzle

Many people including some on the thread have observed a problem get worse since covid

Denying this by keep quoting people in other countries which also have understandable mental health issues will not solve the problem

Its as much use as telling a child with ARFID that children are starving in other countries

Being completely honest it has become fashionable to have issues and a grey line between what is a mental issue and an emotion there is a big big difference between having a social anxiety disorder and feeling anxious having PTSD and experiencing a traumatic event feeling depressed and having a depression disorder. People refuse to categorise problems and instead insist everything is on a spectrum when it just isn't.

in the last 16 years I have seen a divide between the confidence and intelligence of the youth and young adults it's cool not to be normal.

I could go on and on about what is wrong and how we got there but the bottom line is responsiblity and consequences neither apply anymore.

I’ve seen more resilience in war torn countries than here in younger generations. Stop using covid as an excuse.

I would say this is an example where communication has evolved.

It is important to be able to speak on the phone, but there are so many other ways to communicate. Speaking on the phone now often involves long waits and 'click 1 for...'.

I think it's a perfect storm of social media immersion from an early age x Covid

True. My friends and I showed a lot of resilience in our teens and never caused a fuss/seemed normal.

But now:
-one is dead by suicide
-one has a severe eating disorder
-one is on long term antidepressants and in weekly therapy
-one has a bad drug and alcohol habit/criminal record
-other two "appear" fine

Stress/distress/trauma can be buried but it will always resurface somewhere. Better to talk about it at the time and move on.

I'm not sure what it is. Things like making phone calls are basic life skills. I have taught my children how to do these things. I do wonder how good my young adults are at it though, because they just don't have to do it. So many places allow communication by text, messages, emails, online bookings. There is little need to make phone calls, so they don't get the practice.

Then again, I've often made phone calls in my marriage because my husband, who is clearly older than the younger generation, has always had an anxiety about it. So it's not just young people.

I think the trauma of school is what has made me so resilient.

Yes this. And then that has a knock on effect on all the other students.

This!! Someone finally said it.

I think the media have a lot to do with the increasing lack of resilience we see in our society. The rise in MH awareness is a positive move but it isn't without its negatives; people are self diagnosing to the point it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. It's rare I come across anyone who doesn't have some form of MH issue.
Celebrities & 'influencers' openly talk about their MH struggles which yields in people feeling sorry for & empathising with them. So many people are hounding their GP for a diagnosis of some-sort, & for what? So they can tell everyone about it? Use it as an excuse? 'Sorry I can't come to work for the next month because the doctor said I have anxiety'. People use their MH as a comfort blanket which completely ruins it for those who actually are really fucking suffering. Mental health isn't a designer brand you should seek to own. I realise I've gone off topic a bit here but this is what it really boils down to. People just don't TRY anymore because it's been made so easy not to.

I fought hard against that not my children. All they want to do is turn them into lemon drops.

So staff are using the wrong pronouns for CYP on a daily basis? Sounds like a staffing issue to me.

What I’m reading into your post is ‘progress’; times change, things move on and those of us who work with CYP need to move with those times. Resilience is a word that’s often misused and used as a lazy catch all term to avoid having to take responsibility for the shit show that young people have to deal with. True resilience is systemic and comes from children being provided with the scaffolding and support to bounce back from issues they face. It’s not just about them ‘toughening up’.

I think the internet and social media has been incredibly harmful to an entire generation - and we haven’t even seen the full effects yet. My DD said recently “you just had the girls at your school, maybe a few girls from other schools that you knew and then some teenagers on tv - I have the whole world to compare myself against”. I really think the generation that grew up with unlimited social media has been damaged in terms of their sense of self and that is why there are so many with anxiety, who are not able to manage school and have low self esteem issues. I wouldn’t let my DD use social media until she was much older if I could go back in time. I don’t think the covid lockdown was the cause, but it did make things much worse.

The kids are alright. The "decline" that people think they are seeing is a combination of changing values — generally for the better (my parents' generation was the last homophobic one, hopefully) — and us all getting older, and thus slightly more jealous every year of the young ones' lack of cares. But rest assured, they will become just as curmudgeonly as us in a mere 30 years.

https://historyhustle.com/2500-years-of-people-complaining-about-the-younger-generation/

Reading this thread makes me think that the problem lies with us older people actually. What a bunch of unsympathetic, judgemental people we are. If anyone is entitled it is us - many of us received a free uni education, got the opportunity to buy homes which have doubled or trebled in worth so that we're sitting on goldmines and some of us experienced having a job for life. We've buggered up the climate for them to deal with in the future and then many of us reckon the young are flakey to suggest this is a problem; we've started culture wars that have divided society. We don't care about the most vulnerable in our societies choosing to blame them for their problems. And we spend our days looking askance at and criticising the young. If that's resilience you can keep it. No wonder young people are the way you say they are - they just have to look at us lot to be scared and anxious for their future.

It's so hard to tell isn't it. I have my GS living with me, his parents separated when he was 5, he has very little contact with either of them, both seem to have chosen their partners over him. He's done well with his A levels, has his gold DofE and seems to cope with it all really well. I do think he had anger issues when he moved in with us but he has worked through them. I wonder why he is coping and a friend's daughter who has had a much more settled childhood can't seem to cope.

Even harder for you to figure out when it is two sisters, I hope your DD gets better, she has every chance with your support and therapy.

It’s fucking social media and technology that’s the problem.

Well said.

I agree we are more open about these things. Rightly or wrongly I learned to keep the problems to myself, cried them out and just get own with life the next day.

The internet and amount of information our children and teens get these days has a massive impact; on top of COVID and also adults not coping and not being able to guide them,

@Jc2001 Your posts make no sense. The OP is a professional working with children, she hasn't got her opinions from tik tok.