Do you feel like you hear about anxiety in kids and teenagers more than ever before? I just don’t remember hearing about my friends or classmates dealing with anxiety when I was growing up.
Granted, I know there was considerable stigma surrounding mental health back in the day, so surely there was plenty of it happening, considering all the brown plaid that parents were dressing their kids in, and I guess we didn’t hear about these struggles because people just didn’t talk about it.
Do you feel like you hear about anxiety in kids and teenagers more than ever before? I just don’t remember hearing about my friends or classmates dealing with anxiety when I was growing up.
Granted, I know there was considerable stigma surrounding mental health back in the day, so surely there was plenty of it happening, considering all the brown plaid that parents were dressing their kids in, and I guess we didn’t hear about these struggles because people just didn’t talk about it.
If only I knew 14 or 15 years ago what I know now about raising a child with anxieties.
Our first-born, now 20, had bouts of anxiety from as early as I can remember - infancy, really - and they grew more and more paralyzing as he grew into elementary-school age.
When he was in kindergarten, there was a light bulb flickering in the school gym during PE for over a month, and he would freak the freak out so hard they’d have to send him to the counselor’s office during PE time until they could get maintenance down there to change that damn bulb.
Kristan (Braziel) LeBaron is an author, writer, marketing professional, and the voice of the blog, Bring Mommy A Martini. Mom to two hilarious boys: one in college and the other in middle school, she writes “real mom” stories on life with anxiety & depression, and choosing happiness as a daily practice. She lives outside of Austin with her two sons and two lavishly kept dogs.
