My friend and I were talking on the phone about teenagers and their difficulties in our world. She is a counselor at the school where she works, and she made a statement that has stuck in my mind. She said that she has seen one child after another for the last few days with anxiety. My friend talked about the home environments and the other things in the lives of her students. Some of her students think that social media posts are an example of how everyone lives. Life is just rosy all around to the rest of the world. This seems to be a prevalent notion.
I have students who have fears, but most of them seem to have good homes, and their parents are trying to deal with it. Of course, we try to help as much as possible. Student fears seem to be much more prevalent in today’s society. We don’t have to look far to see some of why our children are fearful.
I looked online and checked into some statistics. Healthychildren.org states 43 percent of children have some type of fear or concern. Fear of the dark is one of the most common ones. Many times the children outgrow them, but as they get older the fears can become phobias. According to heathychildren.org, one in three children age 13 to 17 will suffer from some form of anxiety disorder. This is hard to believe. The article stated that this is a large increase from past years. The culprits were supposed to be pressure to succeed (standardized testing, end-of-grade testing, etc.), the scary world we live in, and social media pressures. Other children have unexplained reactions to normal activities of life.
A parent can feel helpless when his or her child is feeling irrational anxiety. It is hard to know how to deal with it. We must take our children’s fears seriously and try to help them overcome them. Find ways to slowly help them conquer their fears. We must remind them that the devil is the source of fear. He is not worth listening to. Only God’s voice is worth listening to. The word fear is mentioned 326 times in Scripture. When God tells us, “Be not afraid,” He always tells us He will be with us. So when your child is afraid of the dark, turn the light on, inspect the room, be with him, and show him the way. God takes us where we need to be one step at a time.
Did you know that children are not the only ones that have fears? According to loudcloudhealth.com, 33-40 percent of our population are afraid of flying, and 30 percent are afraid of failure. Did you know 77 percent of people are afraid of public speaking? I know the way our world is headed causes fears and anxiety for many of us. According to Time magazine, one of the major reasons people are more afraid today is that we have lost confidence in our government. I would say that is a true statement.
One way we could help our children is to face our own fears and trust God to see us through. Isaiah 41:10 states, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Our Almighty God says, I am with you, I am your God, I will help you, and I will uphold you. Wow! What a God! He does all of those things for me.
We must show our trust in God in the “best of times and the worst of times.” Our children need to hear our concerns for our world and the events around us, but they also need to hear our confidence in God. They need to hear how we trust God, no matter what.
Hopefully, you have times to share with your children about how God protected you and took care of you in a time of trouble. I know I have several, and they keep coming. We must be the ones that share Christ in a time of crisis. We can teach our children during this time like no other.
Conquering fear is an act of self-control. We must realize that when David faced Goliath, he was afraid. But he knew he was doing what God wanted him to do. He knew God was with him and God would help him. In I Samuel 17: 45b David says, “…I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.” He ran towards Goliath, but not only Goliath. The armies of the Philistines were there, too.
Sometimes, we are afraid, but we have to run toward the enemy and say, I am coming in the name of my God. We must face our fears and say, “Father, all I need is You.” We can beat this thing. We have to have control of our emotions and let Christ sustain us. The missionaries overseas and the people who are being persecuted are afraid, but they are doing what is right. They have conquered their fears.
Their fears do not control them. They have given them to Jesus. Have you given your fears to Jesus? Remember, He is with you, and He is with your child too.
In closing, we need to help our children by being good examples. Show our children how we conquer our fears. We cannot be consumed by the negative things going on around our world. Keep our anxieties in check. We must utilize relaxing music, put Scripture verses on our walls, keep positive attitudes and spirits, and never discuss problems in front of our children. We should always be in control of our emotions, and most of all, we must have faith in God!
Mrs. Worthington has five children and twelve grandchildren. She serves as Principal of Pathway Christian Academy in Goldsboro.