The 6 Most Dangerous Trends Facing Our Children Today

The world we live in is constantly changing and as parents it can be challenging to know what our children are facing and trying to deal with on an everyday basis.  The way we were raised may have been good for the time that we lived in, but now is a different age and era with a whole new set of issues, ideas and challenges.  Unfortunately our children are facing these challenges everyday and they may not have the words or the courage to tell us what is going on in their minds and hearts.

This may not be the lists that ends all lists, but I believe it gets to the root of many of the issues that our children are having to deal with.  So what are the trends that our children are dealing with?  Not in any particular order I have placed these.  You may think your child is not dealing with some of them.  That may be true and then again maybe not.  As you consider each of these and look at the references and further reading I encourage you to stay close to your child, talk to them without judging, build a community around them, help them feel like they belong to something that is bigger than them.

Here is the list of our 6 Most Dangerous Trends Facing Our Children Today.

Bullying:

This issue statistically affect at least 30% of the students that attend school today.  However the affect on those that see or hear about bullying taking place is not taken into account.  In this series we will highlight the problems, issues, what parents need to know and give you some great resources to combatting all of the different types of bullying taking place.

Depression:

The fasting growing age group who are being diagnosed clinically with depression are preschoolers.  What does this mean and what can we do about it?  I have been shocked by what I have learned and want to make all parents aware of the problems and how it is affecting our children today and in the future.

Self Confidence:

Between the pressures on our children to conform, the media perception of beauty, and pressure put on children by teachers and parents we are finding that very quickly our preschoolers are losing their confidence and it drops very quickly as students getting closer to the teen years.   What can we do and why is this so important to their future.

Stress:

Our children today are facing struggles and pressures that you and I as parents cannot even imagine.  They feel stress in many ways and it is causing breakdowns and other issues that we must face and help with as much as we can.  I believe it is our job to give them the tools that they need to lead a mentally healthy life.

Physical Health:

So many issues with physical health are showing up in the doctor’s office, not the least of which is the affect of bad eating habits.  One of those is diabetes.  In the next few years it is estimated that among our youth that nearly two thirds of young persons born in the year 2000 or beyond will develop diabetes or be pre-diabetic.  This is something that we can do something about.  In addition though we must look at drug abuse, smoking, and alcohol abuse along with the amount of physical activity our children are getting.

Anger Management:

While anger is a normal and natural emotion, there is the question of the affect of anger that may be hidden or is really what is seen while disguising  deeper issues.  Helping our children learn to deal with anger so that it does not end up controlling their life or personality is so important to our helping our children grow into balanced adults.

These are the 6 trends that I see as the most dangerous facing our children.  I hope in this forum we will make available good information as well as spark conversation as we develop our children and ourselves into productive and balanced adults. On each of the above subjects you will find a growing list of posts that I encourage you to comment on and share with all of your friends.

Our goal at Balanced Life Skills is dedicated to being a part of the “village” in helping you and all parents and students to grow mentally, physically, socially and spiritually using the martial arts education as a means of reaching our youth.