The Rise of the Anxious Parent

Today’s parents are more involved in their children’s lives than any generation in the past. And while the consequences aren’t all bad, it can benefit both parent and child if we learn to let go,

- Julie Beun

The parents of today grew up without baby monitors, walked to school by themselves and even broke a bone or two climbing trees in the backyard. Yet despite surviving a freewheeling childhood, they worry more, hover constantly and are the most anxious generation of parents to walk the planet,' says Alex Russell, clinical psychologist and author of Drop the Worry Ball: How to Parent in the Age of Entitlement.

You've probably seen them and may even be one: 'helicopter parents' who are deeply engaged in their child's physical and emotional life and who micro-manage their every move out of fear and uncertainty. The result? A generation that feels entitled to only the best, but so cosseted and managed that they fail to launch into adulthood until well into their 20s.

More worryingly, psychologists like Russell have noticed an increase in 'school refusal', in which students drop out or fail after buckling under the panic and pressure to achieve the best marks. 'We have kids who finish school and are supposed to be adults, but they're clearly not ready,' says Russell. 'They graduate and end up working, say, in a law firm. And their bosses are saying, "What's wrong with these students? They are polite, lovely, compassionate and broadminded, and yet they can't do a single thing without being told what to do. What's going to happen when they need to be novel thinkers?".

EPIDEMIC PROPORTIONS