Top Six Challenges Kids Face Today
The world is an ever-changing place. It goes without saying that every generation in our society has had different challenges when growing up, depending on the society in which they were raised. It’s also fair to say that the challenges kids face today are radically different to the set of challenges faced by any generations which have come before them. This is mainly due to the increased globalisation of our world. Never before have we had to deal with so much information and accessibility at our fingertips – a wonderful thing, but also a challenge that parents and kids alike must navigate with caution. So here is our pick of the top six challenges kids face which adults never had to:
6. Sticking To A Routine
The school day is full of breaks, changes, and different kinds of learning which occur almost like clockwork. Routines extend beyond and around school. Before school kids need to be awake by a certain time, fed, showered, and on the bus. After school, homework and food are a priority. As you can see, there’s a whole lot of routines surrounding schooling. Establishing routines is important for a child’s social development. They learn to become comfortable with the world around them, build skills in safe environments, and ensure they can cope with the challenges of school.
5. Cyber Bullying
Cyber Bullying is a very difficult thing to escape when so much of a child’s social and personal identity is shaped by the time they spend online. While it might seem easy to simply shut off a computer and ignore the bullying, this solution is like saying to previous generations that they should give up going to the park because they were being bullied. The internet and social media has become our kids’ meeting place, much like parks or malls were for other generations. Online abuse can also be highly malicious. With the ability to say anything, or be anyone, the online world is dangerous because it can be used to spread rumours, and allow people to say things they normally wouldn’t say in real life. Cyber Bullying is something most schools and institutions take very seriously. Along with many bulling and kids’ helplines, schools are a great resource to put an end to the bullying. All schools will have a Cyberbullying plan in place.
4. Accountability
Believe it or not, today’s children are the most accountable generation we’ve ever had. With data retention laws and social media, our kids can have anything they’ve ever searched or stated on social media used against them by anyone ranging from peers to the court of law. For teenagers, work is a huge issue, with many of them trying to find casual employment. Any social media accounts who state the teen’s place of work can be considered to be bringing the company into disrepute if inappropriate content is posted, as is any post with the employee wearing a work uniform. Data can always be retrieved, as with searched items through most web browsers. These can all come back to haunt children and adults alike. Ensure you know what children are doing on social media, monitor their use, but most importantly, have them think critically about what they post, and how they talk to others online.
3. Availability of Information
You might question how the availability of information is a bad thing for kids. It certainly has the ability to satisfy their curiosity almost instantaneously, along with helping with schoolwork and other tasks. However, the availability and abundance of information doesn’t necessarily mean that kids are able to distinguish between good and bad information, or take any information they come across critically. It wasn’t long ago that the third highest ranking page on Google for the search term ‘Martin Luther King Jr.’ was a biography written about him from a white supremacist group. Countless articles are also written without sources or valid information, meaning kids might have access to infinite information for schoolwork, but they might be missing the critical evaluation skills to use this properly.
2. ADHD
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder is a medical condition whose diagnosis has skyrocketed in the past 20 years. According to the World Health Organisation, the disorder affects 5-7% of children. While there is some debate as to the validity of the disorder versus it being a behavioural problem with an environmental cause. What is known is that since the 1970s, the amount of ADHD diagnoses has risen to the point that some physicians believe the disease to be over-diagnosed. ADHD is not only an issue for the children and families diagnosed with it. It is also an issue for schools and classrooms, with misbehaving children taking up a disproportionate amount of teaching and learning time as opposed to their well-behaved peers.
1. Changes In Socialisation
As mentioned earlier, there have been many changes with the way people, especially kids, socialise. Socialisation is becoming something part of the online world rather than the real world increasingly quickly. However, parents are remaining inclined to give kids a similar socialisation to their own – taking them outside for play dates, and to meet new friends. For some kids, this can be stressful as they are not used to socialisation in this way, preferring to build an online identity. However, this doesn’t have to be a challenge if the right structure is put around the child, to help facilitate interaction between them and their peers. For more about this topic read our blog post: “Best Toys And Activities That Will Help Your Child’s Development” and “5 Steps to Help Your Child To Overcome Shyness and Make New Friends“.
Your Turn
So as you can see from our list above, the challenges kids face today are numerous. It is our job as parents to guide them and make sure this challenges don’t affect them too much on their teenage and adult years. At Wannabees we advocate for role-play, as this type of play helps your children to take on different personas, and you can be confident it would help them to prepare for the challenges kids face today.
What other challenges do you think kids face and do you have a particular way of preparing your children to face them? Please share this article with a friend and share it on your social network.