Firstly, a question. When your child is scared of something, what do you do?

Step in. Smooth it over. Keep them close.

Totally natural, right? But new research suggests that response, especially when it comes from an anxious parent, might be quietly teaching your child to be anxious too.

How we feel about ourselves is a critical component of our mental health. It’s often referred to as our self-esteem. Essentially though, it is how you rate you. Your perception of you. If you like who you are, knowing of course that you’re not perfect, then the chances are you have a healthy self-esteem.

With 2020 soon behind us, many people may be feeling optimistic about the future. “We’ll have a COVID vaccine soon! 2021 is going to be better!” And while having those positive and optimistic thoughts are great and should be encouraged, they aren’t enough.

Most of us have heard of the term “helicopter parents” but what does it really mean and have you been guilty of it? The answer is probably.

A little over a month ago, we were all going about our daily lives as usual. Going to work, sports, shopping centres, cinemas, and cafes. I was able to visit my mum in her residential aged care environment.

It’s pretty easy to spot the negative stuff. We go about our day buzzing from one thing to another. Not much time is spent looking out for those positive moments. When we do notice them, we quickly forget them and move on to the next dot point on our daily list of bullet points.

But you can change that.

When we hear stories of people who have faced really traumatic situations, and you try to imagine how you would cope yourself, most of us believe we wouldn’t. But you could.

You know the feeling. When someone says or does something rude to you and you retaliate without a second thought with a response that is equally as venomous. We often refer to it as “they just pushed my buttons” or “they caught me at the wrong moment”.

Scientists believe that we may experience real actions and imagined actions in similar ways. Whether we step forward to connect our racquet with the ball, or imagine doing so, we activate many of the same neural networks in our brain.

What parent doesn’t want to raise their kids to be independent, happy, resourceful, and resilient? We all do. But there’s a widening gap between these good intentions and the outcome.

Anxiety in young people is on the rise. The big question is why.