Parenting the Anxious Generation: Identifying + Walking Through Anxiety With Our Kids
The Intentional Parents Podcast
Intentional
4.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s no secret that we live in an anxious world — and we are raising an anxious generation. One in eight kids will be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and that number is rising.
So how do we parent through this? What exactly does anxiety look like in our kids? How do we recognize it — especially when it hides under the surface? What tools can we use to respond? And what hope does Scripture offer us along the way?
In this episode, we’re not speaking as experts or clinicians, but as parents — daily practitioners walking through anxiety with our own children. We explore the truth that anxiety, left unchecked, tends to grow over time. We talk about the two most common responses parents fall into: demanding and protecting, and how neither is helpful in equipping your kids with the tools to face anxiety as they mature.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in a cycle of accommodation — trying to prevent every trigger or meet every need — we offer some honest reflections and a few practical steps to shift that pattern. We also share how we’re learning to spot anxiety in our kids and walk with them through it — not around it.
Above all, we look to God’s Word, where we’re reminded again and again: Do not fear. Not because fear is never present, but because His presence meets us in it.
At the heart of this conversation is a call to slow down. To truly see our kids — not just their behavior, but what’s driving it. Slowing down allows us to meet them where they are, build resilience together, and remind them they’re not alone. With God’s help, our kids can develop the courage to face their fears — and even experience freedom in the midst of anxiety, not just from it. That kind of growth is slow, often messy, but deeply meaningful — and one of the most rewarding parts of parenting we’ve encountered.
Scripture Mentioned: Exodus 4:1-7, 1 Kings 19, Matthew 1:18-25, Joshua 1:9, Isaiah 41:10
Books Mentioned: Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You by John Ortberg, Raising Worry-Free Girls: Helping Your Daughter Feel Braver, Stronger, and Smarter in an Anxious World by Sissy Goff + The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
Sowing a Hidden Seed: 31-Day Prayer Devotional by Brook Mosser
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey friends, mark your calendars. The Intentional Motherhood Retreat is coming up October 23rd through 25th in Portland, Oregon. |
| 0:10.7 | It's a meaningful few days to slow down, connect, and refocus on what matters most in your motherhood journey. |
| 0:18.1 | Also some exciting news. Intention intentional fatherhood has officially launched on all |
| 0:22.2 | podcast platforms, including YouTube, so go subscribe, check out the first few episodes, and share it |
| 0:27.6 | with all the fathers in your life. For more details and registration info for the motherhood |
| 0:31.8 | retreat, you can go to intentional parents.org, or you can go check out our new website for fathers intentional fatherhood.org. |
| 0:45.3 | Hey friends, mark your calendars. The intentional motherhood retreat is coming up October 23rd through 25th in Portland, Oregon. |
| 0:53.2 | It's a meaningful few days to slow down, |
| 0:56.2 | connect, and refocus on what matters most in your motherhood journey. Also some exciting news, |
| 1:01.9 | intentional fatherhood has officially launched on all podcast platforms, including YouTube. So go |
| 1:07.6 | subscribe, check out the first few episodes, and share it with all the fathers in your life. For more details and registration info for the motherhood retreat, |
| 1:15.0 | you can go to intentional parents.org, or you can go check out our new website for fathers, |
| 1:20.7 | intentional fatherhood.org. |
| 1:26.1 | You're listening to the intentional parents podcast, brought to you by Intentional. |
| 1:31.2 | Intentional is all about spiritual formation in the family. |
| 1:35.2 | We desire to bring biblical hope and practical hope. |
| 1:38.5 | Enjoy this week's conversation. |
| 1:52.7 | All right, welcome back to the intentional parents podcast, parenting the anxious generation. |
| 1:58.9 | So much anxiety living in our culture, in our lives, in our bones, in our moment. |
| 2:20.3 | How do we parent an anxious generation? How do we know what anxiety is? How do we know how to identify it in our kids? What are the active tools that we need to use? What biblically does the Bible say about anxiety as a whole and also how do we deal with it? That's what we're getting into today. I'm really excited about it. She's a light, easy topic. This is your topic. This is the one you wanted to talk about. No landmines we could step on. Well, you and I specifically have a lot of passion about this. |
| 2:25.3 | Also wanted to say last week we announced a very fun thing, sewing a hidden seed, daily prayers for your |
| 2:31.4 | child's spiritual growth. If you haven't had a chance to listen to that |
... |
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