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A Little Stressed
Does Family Stress Affect Toddlers?
By Keath Castelloe Low
So often we think of adult stress and how it impacts our life. What about stress and children? Can children as young as toddlers be affected by stress?
Amy Neil from Denver, Colo., says that stress in the home has definitely affected her 2 1/2-year-old daughter. "We currently have money problems," Neil says. "We do our best to shield her from the whole ordeal of 'adult stress,' but it is difficult at times."
Neil's daughter has begun to react to the stress by "acting out with tantrums that are out of the norm even for a preschooler," Neil says. Other times her daughter becomes the "mediator" between Neil and her husband during heated discussions. The Neils are aware of the impact this stress has on their daughter and are making concerted efforts to protect her from it.
Dr. Alexandra Barzvi, a child psychologist and clinical director for the Anxiety and Mood Institute at the New York University Child Study Center, explains that stress is a subjective experience of physical and emotional distress. "It is a feeling of being worried, nervous, afraid, tense and pressured," Dr. Barzvi says. "Stress can affect a child's thinking and learning by making it hard to pay attention, concentrate and make decisions. It can also shape the way a child views the world and the way a child acts."
"Children who are stressed may feel as though something is wrong, but often they do not know how to express it," Dr. Barzvi says. "They might try to find an explanation for why they are feeling so bad, but if they can't identify anything in their environment that is causing them to be upset, then they begin to turn inward and blame themselves. They often feel like something is wrong with them."
