Welcome to Nobody Told Me. I'm Jan Black. And I'm Laura Owens. Children today are fundamentally different from past generations. They truly have less self-control. So says our

guest on this episode, certified parent educator Catherine Reynolds-Lewis, author of the book,

The Good News About Bad Behavior, Why Kids Are Less Disciplined than Ever and What to Do

About it. Catherine, thank you so much for joining us.

Oh, my pleasure.

Thanks so much for having me.

How are children today fundamentally different from those in the past?

Well, I got into this question really first as a parent,

wondering if it was just me who had trouble getting my kids to do what I want.

But then as a journalist, I dug into the research on behavioral and mental health and found that over and over, we have so many different research studies showing that the

prevalence of ADHD and anxiety and depression and even suicidality are so high.

And one really fascinating study I found looked at the simple measure of how long children

can stay still when you tell them to.

And in fact, it's declined by about 75 or 80% in the last 50 years.

So in a lot of different ways, our kids just aren't as able to manage their behavior,

thoughts, and emotions as they had been maybe 10, 20, 30 years ago.

And as a result, it means that we're often frustrated with them as parents or educators

or adults working with kids and trying to just gain their cooperation.

I was absolutely shocked when I read that nearly half of today's children will develop

a behavioral disorder, a mood disorder, or a substance abuse problem by the age of 18.

Why is that?

It's a great question.

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