Why are so many children suffering from anxiety?

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I'm watching an episode of 'School' where the Head is saying the number of children with anxiety is increasing every year, seems to be backed up by research too.

I don't have children yet but I'm aware of how debilitating anxiety can be and so guess I am wondering out loud why so many more children have anxiety these days?

What part of this is in the control of parents? What can we do to try to build more resilience in children?

Do any of those with DC who have anxiety have thoughts about what has caused it?

I had friends with bulimia, anorexia, self harm, depression. It just wasn;t treated in those days. Definitely - sat beside a very clever girl in chemistry A level and watched her almost disappear, her parents refused to believe she was anorexic, she wasn't the only girl to develop anorexia in our year but it was the length of time her parent's took to deal with it that was shocking.
Early intervention is key and with all those deniers out there insisting that these kids do not need help they are just attention seekers, need to grow a back bone, are a bit sad - what have they got to worry about?! They are part of the problem.

@SnuggyBuggy Thank you.

@Badadadumbim glad to hear your DS is doing much better. My DSs teacher confessed something very similar about her husband so I do feel she understands and will continue to be supportive. The school has been really good so far.

@PrivacySetting your poor DD. Sexual assault at school aged 5? That's horrendous. I hope they have improved how they deal with bullies, and I hope your DDs symptoms improve in time.

Reading back through this thread, many of the replies are clueless. 'Feeling anxious about speaking to shop assistants' is not anxiety

No gin they didn't improve at all. They minimised and chose to protect the bullies. We moved schools. My dd has had extensive therapy and i have Bern told, will likely have issues recurring throughout life. Teenage years are a trigger for reoccurence apparently

That's awful @PrivacySetting
I really feel for your DD. I'm glad you got to the bottom of it but it must be so hard knowing she's got such a long road ahead.

My DS is becoming very obsessive about food, a new symptom linked to him vomiting so often with nerves (I think). Nothing passes his mouth without him asking if it will make him sick ) Its hard to rationalise with a 6yo.
He can't tolerate bits of food dropped on the table, or people chewing/eating loudly, or anything that looks greasy, most of which he can't avoid at lunchtime at school. It's a daily battle.

I’d say any child sexually asualting another 5 year old has been exposed to themselves so whilst it may look like protecting and I do understand your feelings, everyone involved would have been trying to resolve the whole situation for all concerned.

No 5five that isn't what happened at all. They dismissed it as childsplay and didn't investigate at all

@PrivacySetting I hope your dd continues to get the professional support when she needs it - can't imagine how hard getting through that has been on your dd and you all as a family.

They dismissed it as childsplay and didn't investigate at all They let everyone down!

PrivacySetting - I’m so sorry

Thankyou lovelies, i appreciate that. I could write a book/talk about it for hours. It's been devastating

However, i have derailed the thread! 😁

I do want it to be clear though, there is definitely a difference between 'being anxious and 'having anxiety. Some comments on this thread are flippant and ignorant

I think it also has to do with the way in which schools increasingly micromanage children . Years ago if you were hot you took your jacket, nowadays schools decide for children when they can take their jackets off . We remove all their ability to make simple day to day choices about whether they are too hot, too cold, etc. Then we complain that they can’t take responsibility. We are systematically educating them to doubt their own judgement . Yes we followed rules in the past but those rules had a logic to them and were largely to do with considering others and safety. Now they are about control.

In my day you could argue an essay any way you wanted providing you backed up your arguments . Now you have to blindly and slavishly follow a mark scheme.

I also think the trend towards huge schools has had an effect. When I was at school most of the teachers recognised most of the children, even if they coukdn’t Recall their name . Children felt safe and valued and part of a community , somebody cared about then etc . Now schools are so big that element of being valued has gone , children are just a number , part of a herd which has to be controlled and managed .

Agree with Pease re: current and past GSCE exams. Also if you’re not academic then it’s percieved there’s no future for you so tremendous pressure for schools, parents and dcs to ensure they perform academically