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

[Namechangechangeobv]

And WTF do we do about it?

Obviously many young people are wonderfully resilient but the overall trend I’ve seen in my line of work (behavioural education) is that there are vast, and I mean VAST numbers of young adults who cannot leave the house, come into a classroom, look someone in the eye, make a phone call, speak infront of the class (if they make it in), cry when pronouns are wrong (daily occurrence), take responsibility to revise/get a job/learn to drive.

What is going to happen to these humans in the future?

@Octavia64

The following links are useful:Unicef: Necessity of Urban Green Space for Children's Optimal Development

Rethinking Childhood

Make Space For Girls

Guardian article

Plus all the evidence submitted to the parliamentary committee on Children, Young People and the Built Environment.

Errh, yes….

I beg your pardon.

Perhaps it's just a case that troubled kids are actually being recognised, rather than flying under the radar.

It's the falling off a horse problem. If you don't get back on straight away, you never will, because the fear is too all consuming. Anxiety can only be managed by keeping on doing the thing that makes you anxious.

I think saying that is really burying your head in the sand. Clearly there is a massive and growing problem.

And I think that simply saying we need to get them help won't do anything to address the causes. The internet and social media really have screwed with their minds

I think it's just a sign that you're middle aged. Every generation has been told by their elders, that their generation is too spoiled, too soft and a general pain in the arse. I remember my mother's friend in the mid 90s, saying that there must have been something in the water that affected my generation (Gen X) because we were all hopeless fecks and the world was doomed.

There seems to be a shift in many things being one of them. Not sure whether it’s Covid, change in education or parenting styles or a million other things such as a change in our culture, more online interaction, more time spent indoors, more social media which can lead to comparison….

I see parents that don’t set boundaries for their kids and don’t want to upset them, I feel many in society coming across as entitled - I think our expectations
of many things have changed. I think there are many contributing factors.

There definitely needs to be some changes - just not sure what/how

I’ve seen a change in attitude from people. I teach adults and 16-19 year olds and there is much more of a feeling that the world should bend to accommodate your individual needs.

For example, learners just get up and turn lights off, leaving some learners in the dark, because they don’t like the light. There’s not much awareness of others. It’s definitely got worse in the last 10 or so years.

I don’t know how to make myself clearer. The numbers of young people now in behavioural education where I work is TWENTY TIMES what it was 20 years ago. Not to mention the issues elsewhere where I work. It is NOT the usual generational stuff. This is a BIG DEAL and we cannot afford to ignore it.

Yes it is exactly like that

Starting to feel you are just here for a fight.

20 years ago there was better SEN provision, less inclusion and the current ridiculously dry and inappropriate curriculum wasn’t in place.

If only there was somewhere to actually get help…

That sounds soul destroying.
So many parents seem to give the impression that their child is perfect, when no one is. Again it's the media, the class whatts app group where the parebts can be worse than the children and everyine knows everyones business

Children make mistakes, they are sometimes little sh1t's and they are sometimes acting up to mask other problems. But parents need to work collaboratively with schools and vice versa. Presenting this 'perfect' impression is part of the problem, children then feel they need to try to live up to it, rather than being told 'yes you made a mistake, and that's ok, but you need to own it and apologise/try to make it right.

😂😂😂😂I didn’t start this thread you did.

No just pointing out that strategies are there to support autistic people they’re not there to set boundaries or to modify behaviour previously referred to by said poster.

Most people I know are on anti depressants or anti anxiety meds and most have teenagers/ young adult children on medication or unable to work due to mental health. I don't know what the answer is. I do think the mental health issues card is pulled too often - there is a difference between mental health struggles and having to deal with a problem or getting stressed with a situation. My son is doing his GCSE's at the moment and is getting overwhelmed with all the work, he is stressed (like a lot of yr 11's!!) but he doesn't have a mental health issue. I am sure even low level stress now is being branded as a mental health issue.

I blame a lot of this on Social media. There are thousands and thousands of posts on tiktok for e.g. that explain the symptoms of different mental illnesses. All of these symptoms are normal feelings and emotions that everyone feel. Where people seem to get confused is that feeling these emotions are normal and does not equate to mental illness. Once a person has labelled themselves they then start to become that person as that's who they believe they are. A little bit of knowledge can be a dangerous thing and people don't seem to understand feeling nervous or shy isn't anxiety, feeling sad isn't depression, being tidy isn't ocd.

I agree op - see it in spades with teenage niece and nephew, if it doesn’t suit them they won’t do it.
Their great uncle died recently and neither went to the funeral cos they wouldn’t get out of bed.
Nephew has mild learning difficulties but SIL and BIL go out of their way so he wont be upset/ inconvenienced ever.
I just feel like they are not doing them any favours for when they are adults and have to do things that don’t want to do. I worry for their futures tbh.

Yes, it can become a self fulfilling situation in some cases perhaps

Suggestion is powerful

I don't know. We couldn't go to school during the late 1970s oil shortages as they couldn't heat the buildings. No drama; we just had to walk into school to pick up work set by the teachers and do ut at home. Only my parents left school at 14, in the early 60s, so couldn't really help and the library was also shut.

I think social media has a heck of a lot to do with youngsters' problems nowadays.

Stop being so stupid and stop reading/believing everything you watch/read on social media and the Daily Mail.

People like you live in an echo chamber and need to start thinking for yourselves.

Try looking around rather than learning everything you know from some extreme influencer that represents a minute portion of the population. Also stop watching the other end of the spectrum who whip people like you up into a frenzy.

Its OK everyone because according to some hopeful people once the Labour Party get in charge everything will be OK. 😆😆

Whilst I agree with you about social media Im not sure Gen X can be so blasé about MH issues statistically!

Personally I think it all comes down to lack of enforcement of boundaries , in the same way that there are so many unruly dogs around !
Some things aren't optional,going to school, leaving your room, eating as a family, doing your home work, going to lectures at uni etc etc. If your whole upbringing has been centred around YOUR feelings and wants and then you go out into the world and have to actually follow some instructions, turn up for work etc, of course it's going to be a horrible shock.