This article is scary to me. As a kid I sure did not worry about our families finances. School and girls were the only things that I worried about. I worried if my grades were going to be good enough to keep my parents happy. I worried about my girlfriend breaking up with me for doing something stupid.
The numbers in this article just astounded me. It states that kids 8 to 17 worried about their families finances, grades and getting into a good college. They suffer from head aches and lose sleep due to stress. The most surprising thing to me is that the parents don't even know this is going on. It said that 44% of kids have trouble sleeping at night due to stress and only 13 % of the parents believe that their children have trouble sleeping.
When I was a kid dinner time was the place to talk about the days activities. If we had a problem that is where we would discuss it. I know that I am not the average college age student, but has it really been that long ago! Parents need to reinforce to their children that they can talk to them about anything. My parents always made sure that my brother and I knew that we could talk to them about anything. I know now that I did not do this enough, but the offer was always there. Parents just need to take the time to talk and listen to their children.
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As I read this article too, I got the same reaction as you did. When I was younger (which isn’t too long ago) I never worried about my parents financial problems and I never loss sleep from it either. I was more considered about my grades and being with friends, the less of my worries was my parents’ financial issues.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that parents need to start paying more attention to their children and if they are stressing about their home life, the parents need to comfort them and inform them that everything is going to be okay. It wouldn’t surprise me though if children are losing sleep due to this problem. You wouldn’t believe how much just talking and listening to a child can do.
I agree I think that it is sad that kids think about their parents financial situations. I think the reason most kids do is because it affects them in ways like whether or not they can afford to go out and have fun. One example: can the kids parents afford for them to go to the movie with their friends or not? I mean if you think about it who didn't think at one point in time are my parents going to be able to give me 6 bucks to go watch a movie with my friends tonight or am I going to have to tell them I can't go. It's just a thought, I'm sure that it happens more and more now just because the way the economy is.
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction to these statistics were the about the same as others who have commented here, however let's take the possible detrimental effects a step further and try to hypothesize the long term damage that could be happening because of such high stress levels at such young ages. I did not have a care in the world pretty much all the way through school, I cared about sports, social activities, and to a lesser extent grades. Now, however, I sometimes feel consumed by stress, and had I experienced that before I really knew how to deal with it in a healthy manner I'm not so sure I would be the same goal oriented person I am today. Is excessive stress levels (especially about circumstances the youth cannot directly control) at young ages already leading to depression and even suicide at younger ages, I think this is a valid question to ask.
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