Building Happier Kids: Stress-Busting Tools for Parents

A pediatrician and parent of two teenagers, Bhargava understands the busy life of working caregivers. When her daughter, overloaded from the pressures of school sports, homework, orchestra, and other activities, woke up and declared she was too stressed and needed a day off, Bhargava began to re-evaluate her own parenting, she writes. She argues that today’s 24/7 news cycle, social media, global issues, and climate change combine to spark panic attacks, depression, substance use, and school difficulties in kids. Bhargava suggests boundaries for protecting children (and adults too) from some of the adverse effects of these stress factors. Bhargava doesn’t ignore toxic stress in children, which can result from abuse, neglect, poverty, racial profiling, being separated from a parent at the border, or a family member’s addiction to drugs or alcohol. She addresses how bullying and systemic racism can disrupt a child’s sense of safety and increase the risk of toxic stress. There’s additional concern for the 2.7 million children in the U.S. who have an incarcerated parent.