Calming Anxious Lives
A Wholistic Parenting Approach
by Lisa Marshall
For fourth-grader skylar shumate, a typical tuesday looks like this. rise at dawn
for some toaster waffles and juice before sprinting to the bus at 7:15 a.m. study for
spelling en route to school. embark on a seven-hour school day, filled with classes
and quizzes. Head to cheerleading at 3:15pm, hip-hop class at 5pm, then return home
to practice piano and do homework before grabbing dinner and heading to bed. in all,
skylar reports, she is a happy kid. “but sometimes, if i’m super stressed, i’ll go cry in my
room,” she confesses. “i sometimes just wish there wasn’t so much pressure.”
S
uch a statement from a child is percent of parents report that their 9- to ers report an increase in stress-related
particularly chilling. But, according 13-year-old children experience moder- health problems like stomach aches,
to a growing body of research and le- ate to high levels of stress. In a recent teeth grinding, sleep disorders and
gions of concerned child development poll of high school students by Stanford behavioral problems in children as
experts, Skylar is not alone. University, 65 percent admitted they young as preschool age. Some anxiety
were often or always stressed out. Ac- can be attributed to trouble at home,
troubling trends
cording to the National Mental Health such as abuse or personal tragedy. But a
Information Center, anxiety disorders more insidious culprit appears to have
According to a study by the affect 13 out of every 100 children ages emerged: a culture of hyper-parenting,
California-based Lucile Packard Foun- 9 to 17. in which kids are overscheduled and
dation for Children’s Health, up to 70 Nationwide, healthcare provid- academically overloaded, and adult
32 Broward County
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