If adults are constantly stressed out by today's pressures, how are they affecting children

asks PDTV
A. The charity Work-Life Balance says that one on five British children has a stress-related illness.

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Q. What form does their stress take
A. In the more extreme cases it takes the form of depression - more and more young people are being treated for this. The number of teenage suicides has doubled in the last 20 years.

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Q. Why don't their parents notice that their children are so stressed out
A. They're probably too busy trying to deal with their own stress levels - balancing work and home, long hours, commuting and so on. It doesn't leave any time to have fun with their kids. This is partly why their kids are so stressed out in the first place.

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Q. Why's that, then
A. Children need security at home, encouragement from parents, time spent on them - and someone to listen to them if they are to get through life successfully. In the UK, however, we work the longest hours, so fewer and fewer parents are able to offer their children the time and emotional support they need.

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The children themselves recognise that their parents are busy and stressed and they don't want to add to that. So they keep their worries to themselves instead of sharing them with their parents. A study by the charity Young Voice found that only 27% of teenagers said they talked to their family about things which concerned them. This is particularly true of boys with single mothers: they try to protect their mothers, but have no way to deal with their own worries themselves.

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Q. What are the things that stress kids out
A. A study of almost 3,000 14 to 18-years olds by Young Voice and Oxford University, found that more than three-quarters of teens said schoolwork and exams were their main source of stress. Next was conflict at home.

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More than half the girls questioned said they felt stressed about their looks, and almost half of all girls and boys said they felt stressed about money.

Q. What can be done to help
A. Taking the pressure off academic success from time to time would help. Experts also point out that children play a lot less sport than they used to (sport has been proven to alleviate stress).

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It also helps if families sit down and eat together (without watching TV), so they can talk about their problems. Spending leisure time together as a family is seen as very important, too.

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Q. Is it only children from more deprived backgrounds who are stressed out
A. Not at all. Ambitious professional parents can stress their children out by putting too much focus on achievement. Their children may be put through exams from as young as four years to gain a place in exclusive schools, and be taken to all sorts of extra-curricular classes.

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Q. How can I find out more
A. Visit Work-Life Balance's website to find out about its recent conference on the subject.�

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by Sheena Miller

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