This Earth Day, discussing the planet's challenges with your children can feel daunting, as many share growing anxieties about its future. How can we address this constructively?
Celebrating Earth Day should be all about joy. Decades of research have found the benefits of time spent in nature for kids (and adults!). These include stronger retention of new material, increased attention and focus, and enhanced critical thinking. So what’s not to love? The very harsh reality of climate change.
As schools (starting with 2-year-olds) have begun talking about climate change, it is no surprise that climate change anxiety (also known as eco-anxiety) is on the rise. And not just among kids. One study found that 9% of Americans felt down or hopeless about global warming for at least several days in the last 2 weeks, and a 2021 survey of young adults 16-25 revealed that a whopping 60% of them felt “very worried” or “extremely worried” about climate change. This stuff is HARD to manage, and depending on your child’s age, can also be scary.
In his latest book, acclaimed neuropsychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel, talks about how to help connect our children to all of humanity. Instead of getting hopeless, Dr. Siegel suggests that we encourage our children to get helpful. His acronym GASSPP (goal, agency, social supports, and pathway to purposeful project) supports the notion that our children take on a “serve the world, not save the world” mentality. What does this look like? Here are a few examples.
Finally, become aware of both yours and your child’s emotions. Are you watching too much news around climate change? Is your child doing a unit on recycling that has them concerned? Do your best not to pass anxiety back and forth! We need to model hopefulness and action for our children in the face of adversity.