The kids are not okay, and it is time for us to face the truth. As long as I have been writing, surveys have shown that the mental health of our young people has been steadily getting worse. But now we are learning that things really took an enormous turn for the worse during the pandemic. As you will see below, one expert is warning that the number of kids that are dealing with mental health issues “has increased exponentially since the pandemic”. The facts that I am about to share with you are likely to make you very angry. Our system does not work, and millions upon millions of young people are having their lives ruined as a result. The following are 13 numbers that show how dramatically we have failed America’s children…
#1 One recent survey found that 40 percent of U.S. parents “worry their children struggle with anxiety or depression”.
#2 During the pandemic, suicide became the second leading cause of death for U.S. children between the ages of 10 and 14.
#3 Suicide is also the second leading cause of death for Americans between the ages of 15 and 24.
#4 According to a recent Pew Research Center poll, 46 percent of U.S. kids between the ages of 13 and 17 have experienced cyberbullying.
#5 40 percent of U.S. high school students “felt so sad or hopeless” in 2021 that “they were unable to do their regular activities”.
#6 According to the CDC, “more than 95% of children and adolescents in the U.S. spend much of their daily lives in school”.
#7 At 23 schools in Baltimore, not one single student is proficient in math.
#8 At 30 schools in Illinois, not one single student can read at grade level.
#9 At 53 schools in Illinois, not one single student can do math at grade level.
#10 According to the CDC, nearly 20 percent of all adolescent female students experienced sexual violence in 2021.
#11 According to the CDC, nearly 60 percent of all adolescent female students “experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness” in 2021.
#12 According to the CDC, nearly 25 percent of all adolescent female students “made a suicide plan” in 2021.
#13 The proportion of adolescent female students that actually attempted suicide in 2021 was 60 percent higher than a decade ago.
There is nothing “normal” about these numbers.
The mental health of our young people has been declining for years, and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics is telling us that the number of kids and adolescents dealing with mental health issues “has increased exponentially since the pandemic”…
“I would say over the last 10 years, since I’ve been practicing as a general pediatrician, I have seen a shift both in the amount of patients and of all ages dealing with anxiety and depression. And their parents being concerned about this is a key issue,” said Dr. Katherine Williamson, a pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics. “Even before the pandemic, we were seeing skyrocketing numbers of kids and adolescents dealing with mental health issues, and that has increased exponentially since the pandemic.”
We told our leaders that the incredibly sick and twisted mandates and restrictions that they were forcing upon our young people were going to have very serious mental health consequences.
And that is precisely what has happened.
But of course we must also acknowledge that the mental health of our young people was steadily deteriorating long before the pandemic ever came along.
It has become clear that no matter how much money we pour into our schools, it isn’t going to make things any better.
In fact, to me it is quite apparent that our absolutely pathetic system of public education is a big part of the problem.
If you want your teens to hate life, just put them into a public high school.
Having said that, I want to stress that having strong nuclear families is even more important to the mental health of our young people.
Unfortunately, the traditional family unit is under attack like never before, and in many cases it is being replaced by “new arrangements”…
Alysia and Tyler Rogers were already parents to two children, now ages 7 and 8, when they embarked on a romantic relationship with married friends Sean and Taya Hartless.
The two couples, originally from the US, moved in together as a polyamorous foursome in 2020 and the following year, Alysia and Taya delivered babies seven months apart.
Neither woman knows who biologically fathered the kids, with Alysia maintaining they will help the children discover that down the road if they ever want to.
I don’t even know what to say about all of that.
Unfortunately, a smaller percentage of U.S. children are being raised in a traditional home with a traditional father and a traditional mother than ever before.
And that has very serious implications for our future.
As we all get older, we are going to need the next generation to take care of us. According to the Washington Post, it is being projected that the number of elderly people in the United States will grow very rapidly in the years ahead…
That represents 55.7 million people, an increase of 15.2 million (38 percent) of people 65 and above since 2010, compared with just 2 percent growth in the under-65 population. It also reflects a consistent increase in the nation’s older population since 1900, when there were 3.1 million Americans 65 and older (4 percent of the population).
The report projects a climb to roughly 80.8 million residents 65 and older by 2040, more than double the number in 2000. It also predicts a doubling of the number of even older residents by 2040, with the count of those 85 and older expected to grow from 6.7 million in 2020 to 14.4 million by 2040. In 2020, there were nearly 105,000 residents 100 or older.
When we are all old and gray, we will be depending on the next generation to be the leaders of tomorrow.
But thanks to our failures, the next generation is going to be incredibly messed up.
Our society is being “fundamentally transformed” right in front of our eyes, and that is really bad news for all of us.
