Today’s children are taking longer to become adults—creating a new term for us to ponder, ‘‘adultescence.’’ Some never do. In 1960, 77 percent met the benchmarks for adulthood by age thirty - such as living outside their parents’ home, achieving financial independence, and getting married. By 2000, the number had fallen to an alarming 46 percent. Kids today are more psychologically troubled than kids have ever been.

Why are the world’s most privileged kids running into unprecedented levels of mental illness and emotional distress? Could it be parental concern gone haywire? Psychologist Madeline Levine, author of The Price of Privilege, explains:

"Parents are genetically programmed to protect their children from threats. . . . Thankfully, the more recent historical threats to our children’s well-being—malnutrition and devastating childhood illnesses—have been eradicated, or greatly reduced. Yet levels of parental anxiety remain extraordinarily high."

Fearful parents are raising fear-filled children, which yields anxiety-saturated households and worry-worn relationships. Small wonder then that studies, like the one reported in Time on Father’s Day 2006, show parents as less happy interacting with their own children than when ‘‘eating, exercising, shopping or watching television.’’ Sadly, ‘‘the act of parenting makes most people about as happy as an act of housework.’’

Next time: Author Paul Coughlin explores the “Christian” component to this growing problem.

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Paul Coughlin is the author of numerous books, including No More Christian Nice Guy and No More Jellyfish, Chickens or Wimps. He also co-authored a book with his wife, Sandy, for married couples titled Married But Not Engaged. His articles appear in Focus on the Family magazine, and he as been interviewed by Dr. James Dobson, FamilyLife Radio, Homeword, Newsweek, C-SPAN, The New York Times, and the 700 Club among others. Paul is founder of The Protectors, a faith-based response to school-based bullying, which provides curriculum for Sunday Schools, private schools, and retreats that trains people of faith to be sources of light in the theater of bullying.

Visit Paul's website at: http://www.theprotectors.org.

Visit Sandy's website for reluctant entertainers at: http://www.reluctantentertainer.com/