THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT

Young people are doing better than you think

- BY MELINDA WENNER MOYER

IT WAS DECEMBER 2025, AND KATIE TOBIN’S KIDS WERE FIGHTING AGAIN. This time it was because her six-year-old, Tori, wasn't sharing toys with her little sister, Sunny. Sunny retaliated as three-year-olds often do; she hit Tori in a fit of anger. Then, of course, Tori started crying.

Tobin handled the situation as she always does: by validating her kids' feelings, helping them see each other's perspectives and emphasizing limits. She brought Sunny onto her lap and explained that she knew Sunny was frustrated but that it wasn't okay to hit because hitting hurts. She also tried to help Tori understand why Sunny had hit her.

Ten minutes later Sunny calmly walked up to her big sister. “I’m sorry I hit you,” she said. “It’s okay,” Tori replied. “Just don’t do it again.”

If you were to ask most people how kids are doing these days, you'd probably get an earful of complaints and concerns. Compared with children from past generations, kids today are often portrayed as being less mentally healthy, less resilient and less empathetic. “America’s Children Are Unwell,” read a New York Times headline last November; online magazine Parents recently ran “How to Know if Your Kid Is a Narcissist—and What to Do about It.” In a 2025 Common Sense Media survey of 1,300 nationally representative parents, 61 percent said they believe kids today lag behind past generations in their morals and values, and more than half said youth today are less resilient and independent.