RESCUING A STRESSED GENERATION
CHARTERS Towers mum Tammy Betts knew something deeper was at play when her young daughter began to constantly act out.
Kyemma cried uncontrollably every morning and didn’t want to go to school.
Sometimes she delayed putting on her uniform, other times she flat-out refused to get dressed.
She began avoiding people and situations, threw tantrums at home and was defiant with teachers at school.
“Kyemma started to show more signs of either depression or anxiety,” Tammy recalls. “She started to withdraw from us (her family) and she started to spend more alone time in her room.”
Tammy’s story is uncommon.
Anxiety in children is on the rise, affecting even very young kids in primary school.
Children in laid-back regional towns are also not immune to the pressures of our increasingly fast-paced world.
Well-known child psychologist Nicole Pierotti said the number of children with anxiety had “significantly not
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increased” in the 27 years she had been practising in North Queensland.
“Every day we teach anxious kids and their parents about anxiety, how it feels and how to shrink anxiety in a very practical way,” she said.
“I feel children are more anxious today generally, as the amount of anxious children I see in my practice has grown remarkably over the years.”
Townsville psychologist Carolyn Seri agrees.
Ms Seri has been working with children in regional schools and early learning centres for many years and has noticed anxiety levels rising.
She said an increasing number of children were getting professional help to overcome everyday fears and worries.
“Some kids ask about nightmares and others ask how to cope with being away from their parents,” she said.
“I am often asked by children what they can do.”
The reasons for this increase in worried children are complex.
Ms Seri said many children experienced fears and it was a normal part of our survival instincts.
“In this fast-paced world, however, there are many non-life-threatening triggers for kids,” she said.
“Schoolwork is harder, more families work full time, expectations are bigger, and financial pressures are all likely causes for the rise in childhood mental health issues.”
Not surprisingly, social media is also behind increased childhood anxiety.
“Children are often looking to strangers for likes, who is watching them and who has clicked on their pictures,” Ms Seri said. “Any negative feedback or not enough attention causes anxiety in children and young people.
“Instagram has recently removed the ability for others to see likes. Time will tell if this move is helpful and if other platforms follow suit.”
Mrs Pierotti said parents and parenting styles also played an important part.
“There are different types of anxiety and children can be more anxious as a result of genetics, as well as parentingsupervision reasons,” she said.
“Country parents are more relaxed in their parenting than parents in the city, who now feel that it’s not even safe for their children to walk to school any more.
“Country kids often have more freedoms in life, are not continuously supervised when outside, and as a result take risks and learn problemsolving strategies and are less anxious.”
Ms Seri said Townsville’s high crime rate was scaring kids.
“So many children have been victims of crime in their homes,” she said. “Many children are on edge and anxious, and I am seeing more children being scared to go to bed and staying in their own rooms than ever before.
“It’s a difficult one to deal with as there’s so much attention in the news and social media.”
Whatever is scaring our kids, the experts advise parents to look out for any telltale signs that a child isn’t coping.
Ms Seri said physical symptoms such as headaches,