What is going on?? - anxiety pills for an 11yr old?

C&K*s Mommie wrote: I am sickened to hear that so many of our youth are going through adult things at an early age. The suicide attempts recently posted on here by a 5th grader, the 8th grader that was killed a few weeks ago in So. Florida (or was it suicide by cop?). Anyhow, it is terrifying.

And a classmate of mine who is a wonderful father to a beautiful young girl, called her up tonight. First thing she said, after the "hello daddy!" bit, was that she went to the doc & he is going to put her on anxiety pills!! WTH?!?! And she was excited about this!

What is going on, to put a child barely in junior high on prescription anxiety pills.
Maybe I am a fool, and I have had my eyes closed for years, but that is waaaayyyy too young to subject that child to such as that. I am not a fan of presciption pills anything, even for my own body. So that does not sit well with me.

JMO. More like my rant for the night.

holley79 replied: I totally agree on the She is too young. I'm not a big fan of pills myself. I was lucky to remember to take my prenatal.

I think kids now are more exposed then we were. JMO. They also feel that there should be a quick fix to everything. A lot of children/ teens are affection starved so they will try anything to get attention. Whether it is negative or positive. There is also a pill out now for just about anything. You can watch TV and they run down a list of symptoms. Well guess what you are going to have at least on of those symptoms. Well run to your nearest Doc and get the "fix all" pill. I also think that phamacuticals and Doctors are all working together. "You rub my back I'll rub yours". I would have to get a second opinion if I were that girls father. Get a pill bottle, put tick tacs in it, and call it a perscription and the girl will think she has her "cure all" pill.

JMO

gr33n3y3z replied: I agree she is to young
But we dont know the whole story either
But maybe if the Dr sees something and feels its the best thing then so be it but maybe she was suicidel and if that will help[ her from doing anything stupid then go for it.
I guess what I'm saying is unless we walked in others shoes we shouldnt judge ppl.

C&K*s Mommie replied: After a few moments to ponder on this more, Lisa I thought about your response. We are on the same page, we both agree that pill-popping for someone as young as 11 is ridiculous. And I am certainly not passing judgement on anyone, all that above was to say ask "what is going on?" to make our children (and children they still are) to have and do things that are far beyond their years.

It is possible for her to have been suicidal, maybe the stress of the upcoming FCAT's is gettting to her. No one knows for certain. As it really is not my business to pry into their lives, to ask.

The question still is underlying, what is going on to the point that doctors around the country could prescribe anti-anxiety pills to a child. What is going on that our youth think that there is nothing beyond the here and now, and commit atrocious crimes against their classmates, friends, parents, or other. What is going on that they seemingly do not have a second thought? (Columbine, was a good example)When I was a teenager I thought that there literally was not life beyond 18, maybe stretching it out to college age. But life beyond college? Was not possible. That is where the immaturity came in.

Bottom line, I am completely dumbfounded that kids can do the things they are doing, without a second thought. Maybe it is judgemental to say that. But it is scary to think that I could never fathom some things that you hear about everyday involving our children. I suppose this is less about this child being prescribed the pills and more about children growing beyond their years, when everyone can see that it does more harm than good.

Sorry for the rambles~

luvmykids replied: IMO, if she was suicidal or anything severe along those lines, the medication is a good thing. I just hope whatever it is they're looking for the root of the problem and find a way to treat that.

gr33n3y3z replied: Kids today are so mean to each other they belittle,say nasty things,and make them feel no worth.
And then add the everyday pressure of school and home life( the parents are not there for them or drugs,drunk,not care) on top of that then you can see why some kids just cant deal and its very sad. I guess its everything as a whole But if my child was dealing with issues like this I would seek help and not from pills first thats for sure but I guess parents like kids want the easy way out so they dont have to deal with their kids and problems its just as easy to pop a pill.

I hope I didnt offend anyone with this comment.
I wish more of these children would go and look for help on their own
I did notice a commercial running of Boys and Girls Town Ads and thats great I was glad to see that

redchief replied: We're putting way too much pressure on our kids to perform, IMO. In our rush to educationally catch up to our counterparts in the Asian nations, we're forgetting to let our kids be that... Kids. Society says we have no choice; we're lagging behind in science and mathmatics so badly that we won't be able to compete soon! Truth is, we can't compete in the logical fields now, but our kids are paying the price today. Learn, learn, learn... We must make our kids smarter... yada, yada, yada.

Hmmm... But what's happening to creativity and love of life when all we concentrate on is educational scores? What is happening to our HUMANITY? We've lost the balance and our children are paying for it. So, we can't let up on educating our kids long enough that they can have fun and learn to like themselves in all their individuality, so we give them chemical happiness. How sad.

MyBrownEyedBoy replied:

I have always loved this quote, and I think in our rush to educate our kids we have forgotten the importance of finding the answer yourself through exploration and imagination.

C&K*s Mommie replied: No offense, Lisa. I agree with you on all points you made. Everyone else's points as well. Thank you everyone for your responses!

It is sad, that we are leaving our kids with the world in the shape that it is in. But at the very least, changes are made when people stand up for what is right.

kimberley replied:
i couldn't agree more. it is sad.

luvmykids replied:
I love this quote so much it's on one of my blinkies and all over my house. Especially as a parent, it's so important to remember to foster their imaginations. Think about it .... with imagination, anything is possible. Without it, the world is a pretty ugly place.

Lexismama replied: Shes excited about it? That is strange. It almost seems like she is just going on them because they are the "cool" thing to do. It is sad. I am only 22 and I have been on anxiety pills since I was 20 from having severe anxiety attacks. I know alot of it has to do with the rate at which children these days are trying to grow up. Also what they are exposed to now adays. Think back to when you were this age, I see my 15 year old BIL making out with girls, smoking weed, drinking. It is all too crazy. This has been going on in his school since he was in grade 7 (not him tho). I mean at that age, I dont think I knew much at all about drugs. And SEX???!!!??? If you told me about sex at 11 or 12 I probably would have said EEEWWW that is gross!