More and More Children Are Feeling Anxious. This Graphic Novelist Is Trying to Help.

@The Weasel You and your daughter sound like sensible people. I took the SATs, and despite getting a more than respectable score, my parents were upset that it wasn’t a 1600. I don’t think my life would be happier if I had scored a perfect 1600 or less happy if I’d scored a 1350, which was about the average at the schools I applied to. Certainly no one has asked about my SAT scores in the 18 years since my freshman year of college. I do think I’d be happier if my parents hadn’t been so crazy about the college admission process.

@Pat The saying "Genes load the gun, lifestyle pulls the trigger" has been around for many years. I tried to search for the original source but couldn't find it. Maybe other readers have an idea.

@Ellen I'm glad you are enjoying your visit to the Netherlands. The things you say about the place are more or less true. (You forgot to mention the superb french fries!!) Nevertheless I have been reading this article wondering if I should send this book to my daughter, who has lived in Europe all her adult life. Her 15 year old daughter, who moved to Holland at age 4, has developed a severe anxiety disorder, thoughts of suicide, and is not in school this year because she can't manage to attend. Her parents are terrified by this suicide thing. They are normal, highly successful people who spend a lot of time with their kids. Just in case you get the idea that a functioning public transit system (and all the other features you name) immunizes children against mental illness. Of course you know that spending a month on vacation in a foreign country does not necessarily confer on you an understanding of how that society actually works.

@Ellen yup, that's the way it is. In Germany, too and also Norway. Few people realize why the schools in Holland are so good. Many leading german education reformers left Nazi germany during the Third Reich or were force to leave and went to Holland where their legacy lives on today.

@Cecelie Berry reply cont'd My daughter's own anxiety is a direct result of her being on the autism spectrum. The same brain differences that result in autism frequently result in anxiety. They are co-morbid disorders. A decade ago, my daughter never would have been diagnosed with autism and her anxiety likely would have been swept under the table as well with an assurance that she would outgrow such "childish" fears. We are barely beginning to scratch the surface on understanding mental disorders in children. Thank goodness we're finally beginning to speak openly about them. But, in order to continue the honest dialogue that will get children the help they need, it's important to not point the finger of blame at parents who are already struggling to help their children. My daughter bought Guts yesterday. She's already read it 5 times. After the first reading, she declared "It's like she's inside my head!!!" I, for one, am grateful for this book--not because I'm looking to lighten my parenting load but because I'm looking to lighten my child's emotional burden.

I am sad to read this judgmental comment seemingly blaming working parents for their children’s stress. I left my lucrative career at a local tech company to stay at home with my two children. We spent hours playing, reading, talking, learning and communing with other kids pre- elementary school. I was very involved with school, PTSA fundraiser, art docent, playground supervisor. I worked very hard to build a tight community for my children. My kids played rec sports (not the 2k a year elite teams) and hung out with neighborhood kids. I tried to be an involved but non-helicopter, non-tiger mom as much as possible. In 7th grade my eldest son, A/B student but with ADHD , going to the local highly regarded public school with kids he had known forever, began to be anxious. He began refusing to go to school. Unless you have experienced school refusal you cannot imagine what it does to a child and the entire family. It made him sick to his stomach. He couldn’t do homework. It spiraled and by 8th grade we finally had to pull him from school due to a scary panic attack. We have struggled since with therapy, medications, evaluations and many types of school. His anxiety got to the point he was afraid to leave the house. I was there all the way with my kids, and still am. Anxiety is something many children from all walks of life are experiencing now at a very high rate. Why? Multiple factors. Our village needs to come together to solve this crisis as these children are our future.

@Cecelie Berry It’s not as simple as that. Some parents need to work multiple jobs to make ends meet; it’s not always a matter of choice. And in some cases you can have the most perfectly attentive parents and still have anxiety. Or maybe the parental attention contributes to it.

@kay YES. Middle school. It's beyond awful for many kids.

@Questioner Years ago, a friend taught me: It is not the workers who are "workaholics"--it is the demands of the workplace that are "workaholic."

@Petunia Successful Baby Boomer here. We had anxiety when we were in college about to graduate in a recession and double-digit inflation (also, 21% prime rate, imagine that.) I made certain I had a job before graduation, even changed my major. Sure I had anxiety, but I just went to my next job, four in total while in college.

@Christine The author of this article is a guy, and if you read through the comments here a number of commenters have sons who love the books discussed. I'm sure boys can get a lot out of the book!

@Christine I really hate the idea that a boy can’t read a book about a girl. What, do the books have cooties? I think parents and teachers need to stop indulging this toxic idea. Many girls love Harry Potter. Boys can find fictional heroines they can relate to, too.

@Christine My male students read her. They love her! As they would tell you, a good graphic is a good graphic!

@K "American" includes immigrants unless you're talking about kids who are in school here while their parents are temporarily living in the U.S.

Yes! Thank you for posting this comment. I was just getting on to say something similar. Please highlight this comment, NYT, so that more people see it. It’s strange to refer to these books as “girl” books. They are beloved among both genders.

@Allison Perhaps the rampant anxiety among our school children has something to do with the shooter drills and too many standardized tests. School is just not seem to be a warm and nurturing environment these days.

I’m sorry but “for reasons that elude you”?! You live in Colorado. Columbine was THE pivotal turning point here.

@DF: Yes, I'm very aware of Columbine. I live not far from the high school, and a family member worked with one of the shooter's parents. Columbine is not the only mass shooting we've had in this area. There have been several, including one earlier this spring at a charter school just a few miles from the high school where I used to work. That being said, I don't think it's active shooter drills that are turning these kids into balls of anxiety. It's something else, more likely a combination of genetic vulnerability and the pressure of living up to the ridiculously high standards we have for children today. There is simply no room for anyone to be average. Every kid has to be extraordinary across the board, and I think our children internalize that from a very young age. But, honestly, that's just a guess based on many years of observation. I'm not an expert in adolescent psychology, and I don't have the answers. I wish I did.

While I don’t discount the threat of climate change, to scold the writer for not mentioning it seems a bit harsh. I doubt the omission was deliberate. There are plenty of other threats they didn’t include; if they added them all, the list could be never ending depending on whose perspective you’re going off of. The point that shouldn’t be overlooked, is the broader message that there are a lot of things on kid’s minds these days. We should be conscious of what those individual things are for our own kids, and perhaps learn to apply the lessons demonstrated here to help them learn how to cope with their own anxieties. Also, to say a global threat like climate change has never been felt before, negates the anxiety that I’m sure children of the Cold War era felt re: “the bomb,” and children in any era/area of war/strife/hunger, etc. have felt throughout history.

I remember feeling terrified in 3d grade in the late 50s at the prospect of a “chain reaction” that would unravel the world atom by atom. We had drills of putting our heads under our desks in case of an atom bomb. My curiosity about these fascinating atoms eventually overtook my fears and I devoured every book in the local library in the science fiction section. If kids can be guided to experience curiosity when something scares them and practice inquiry to learn about the workings of brains and bodies they may be helped a lot.