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How busy parents are making kids angry

Stressed out parents seem to be everywhere. Many are trying to cope with children with major behavioural problems. There's an unprecedented amount of kids with emotional problems these days. We speak with the writer of a documentary about why the problem's become so bad, and some programs that are out there to help....
CBC Radio ·
Stressed out parents seem to be everywhere. Many are trying to cope with children with major behavioural problems. There's an unprecedented amount of kids with emotional problems these days. We speak with the writer of a documentary about why the problem's become so bad, and some programs that are out there to help.

angry-kids-560.jpg

Three-year-old Jilliane whose mother Karen de Montigny is enrolled in Triple P Positive Parenting Program.
(Photo: John Collins/Bountiful Films)


The Journal of the American Medical Association suggests something unprecedented is happening with children. For the first time since this kind of data has been collected, more kids are diagnosed with mental health conditions than from physical ones. Parents are having to confront children with high levels of anger, aggression, and other behaviour problems.

Experts in child development believe the problem is only going to get worse:


Parents are busy in their own stressful and chaotic lives. And there's very little time that children have where people are present with them just to be with them, just to play, just to read a book. And those circumstances, those quiet times where they get lots of language input, really help them to regulate their behaviour.Dr. Mark Greenberg, Child Development Expert

But parents don't have to despair... some experts believe that early childhood interventions can transform young lives and save governments billions of dollars.

A new documentary called Angry Kids and Stressed Out Parents looks at some of these programs and follows families who are going through them.


  • Maureen Palmer wrote and directed the film. She was in our Vancouver studio.

  • Karen de Montigny is a parent who has gone to a Triple P course and uses its techniques. She was in Surrey, British Columbia.

  • Rob Santos is the Associate Secretary to Healthy Child Committee of Cabinet for the Government of Manitoba. He's also an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Manitoba.

The documentary Angry Kids and Stressed Out Parents is airing Thursday night on CBC Television's Doc Zone. 9pm or 9:30pm in Newfoundland.


Have thoughts you want to share on this documentary? Do you have a busy lifestyle? Are your kids angry or have emotional issues?

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This segment was produced by The Current's Liz Hoath and Marc Apollinio.


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