Kids anxious about unsettled economy

ORLANDO, Fla. – Across the country, as the economic squeeze is tightening on America’s families, it’s causing a ripple effect on some forgotten victims: kids.

Children are worrying about whether their parents have enough money to buy groceries – or moving in with other family members because their parents can’t pay their mortgage.

Call it trickle-down anxiety.

The effects on children are showing up at schools, where kids are complaining about stomachaches and sleep problems.

Some researchers estimate that 2 million children will be affected by the nation’s foreclosure crisis. Meanwhile, jobs are being cut, too.

Many children are focused on money, with high-school students talking about getting jobs to help out their parents.

“We have seen an increase in the number of children and the differences in behavioral symptoms – school phobia, ADHD, more anxiety and depression in the children, not knowing what’s happening in their families,” said Jim Berko, director of Seminole (Fla.) Community Mental Health. “Obviously they’ve picked up the anxiety from their parents.”

And though families have weathered previous recessions, there’s a difference today, says George Schulz, a Winter Springs, Fla., psychologist who has been in practice for more than 25 years. “Not only are parents worried about their jobs, they’re worried about their homes,” Schulz said, “and that’s a major change. Also, a lot of families can’t make ends meet, in terms of putting gas in the car, going to the grocery store. That 24-hour stress is showing up.”

He’s seeing more children with sleep disorders and school phobia. Some younger patients are clingy and suddenly afraid of someone breaking into their homes.

Kids today already deal with more everyday stress than previous generations, Schulz said – because we’ve burdened them with too many worries.

“Parents are too open with their kids these days,” Schulz says. “Even high-school kids aren’t old enough to handle that. I would not discuss the details of the family’s financial situation with any child until they’re adults. What’s the use? They’re just going to worry more.”