My daughter has anxiety and left school with two GCSEs...
it's only now I realise my parenting style is responsible By Anonymous Published: 01:52, 23 August 2024 | Updated: 01:57, 23 August 2024 e-mail View comments The other day, I asked my 17-year-old daughter, languishing in a fug of summer boredom, what she wanted to do with her life. 'I want to be a stay-at-home mother,' she replied. My eyes nearly popped out of my head.
'Why? Don't you want to get a good job and be independent?' I blurted, and then launched into a speech about how women had fought hard to enter the workplace on a level playing field with men. Her reply, however, silenced me. 'It's because I don't want to be like you,' she said.
'I see you working too hard and you are exhausted and you're always complaining about money, so I really don't know why you do it. I just don't want to be you.' Ouch! She went on to tell me that my anxiety about her future makes her feel anxious herself.
That I am too often hovering over her, attempting to sort her life out so that it fits my idea of a successful one. 'Why can't you trust me to do it myself?' she said. In some lucky families, this would be nothing more than an isolated outburst.
The letting off of teenage steam. But in mine, it was especially pointed, for my daughter does in fact suffer from anxiety, for which she is in therapy. She has long been a school refuser and left school last year with just two GCSEs.
This might be very pertinent for people who have child.