Parenting: Causes of stress in children today.
Many children today, quite unlike our times, grew up with ready supplies of food, toys, digital luxuries and learning opportunities. At a glance, they should be living a carefree childhood, spoilt for choices of toys and games, and joy. Ironically, this may not be the case. In contrast, more are exposed to early childhood stress, quite unlike the kids of early days.
What are the contributing factor to early childhood stresses?
Childrens' stress arises from various sources and factors, from parents, changes around him, schools as well as peers.
1. In this era, children are expected to develop skills as early as possible. There are so many theories of early brain and motor skills development, and varying workshops attempting to hasten children's maturity so that they can get ahead faster and stay competitive . As such, parents are exposing their children to such trainings and scheduling workshops and courses for their offspring as early as babyhood. As the child grows, further courses such as music, sports and various soft skill courses are added to their schedule, leaving very little downtime for the little ones.
2. As the child attends pre-schools, which is a common trend today, they start to meet friends and teachers. They maybe exposed to bullies, peer and teacher's pressure at a tender young age.
3. In an increasingly complicated society, children are potentially exposed to social problems, such as family model changes, violence or even crimes. Such early exposures will pose certain stress on adults, not to mention children.
4. Some children may inherently build a higher expectation on his performances, to As in studies or champion in sports. These mentality tend to be too result oriented and focuses winning rather than joy of learning and playing. Inevitably, pressure accumulates over the years as the kid blossoms.
Having first identified causes of stress, how can we help our children manage or avoid such challenges? I have established another post to discuss this further on To-do's to manage children's stress.
What are the contributing factor to early childhood stresses?
Childrens' stress arises from various sources and factors, from parents, changes around him, schools as well as peers.
1. In this era, children are expected to develop skills as early as possible. There are so many theories of early brain and motor skills development, and varying workshops attempting to hasten children's maturity so that they can get ahead faster and stay competitive . As such, parents are exposing their children to such trainings and scheduling workshops and courses for their offspring as early as babyhood. As the child grows, further courses such as music, sports and various soft skill courses are added to their schedule, leaving very little downtime for the little ones.
2. As the child attends pre-schools, which is a common trend today, they start to meet friends and teachers. They maybe exposed to bullies, peer and teacher's pressure at a tender young age.
3. In an increasingly complicated society, children are potentially exposed to social problems, such as family model changes, violence or even crimes. Such early exposures will pose certain stress on adults, not to mention children.
4. Some children may inherently build a higher expectation on his performances, to As in studies or champion in sports. These mentality tend to be too result oriented and focuses winning rather than joy of learning and playing. Inevitably, pressure accumulates over the years as the kid blossoms.
Having first identified causes of stress, how can we help our children manage or avoid such challenges? I have established another post to discuss this further on To-do's to manage children's stress.
Comments