Anxiety in young ages – a story to make us understand

Stress is an inseparable part of our everyday lives. We have learned to live with it and who knows how we would feel if one day that could disappear. The idea is that we get used to stressing from a very young age and somehow most of us manage to cope with this emotion for the rest of our lives. I cannot be sure if we would feel ok if someone could magically vanish that parameter from our lives. Perhaps, we would feel awkward the first time we would realize we are completely free to do anything.

The strange ad that a company decided to pull to promote its products could only work as food for thought for every sophisticated individual of the modern world. The particular company was selling pens and the advertisement had to do with a kind of experiment they conducted. Let’s see what the story is all about.

The teacher of a class called the parents of all the students and invited the mom or the dad of each kid to come to a meeting that would take place in the classroom where the children used to take their lessons. Each parent sat on the chair where their kids used to sit normally and the teacher handed them the results of a test that their kids had taken.

The particular test was relatively easy so that the kids would be able to do well and therefore when the parents took back the results, they would be proud of their children. After distributing the results to the parents he asked them how they felt. All of them said that they were proud of their kids and they feel grateful they have such smart daughters and sons.

After that, the teacher took back the tests and distributed to each of the parents the pens that the kids used when they took the test. He explained that these were the pens that had been used. The parents took a while to observe them and understand what this was all about. All the pens had been a little bit damaged at their edge.

All of the kids would put the edge of their pens in their mouths while they were taking the test. They had all chewed the pens a little bit while they were thinking of the answers they would have to give. This was a sign of their anxiety. It was a way to get rid of the extra tension that the process of the evaluation was creating. Some pens were more damaged than others and it was clear that someone had bitten them. Some people bit their nails, some people bit their pens but in any case, everyone wants to take it out of their system.

The teacher explained to the parents: ”This is how nervous your children were when they took the test.” Everyone had got the message already. After a while the teacher asked the parents how they were feeling this time, knowing that their kids had suffered so much to make them proud. Most parents struggled with feelings of guilt and self-rejection. When people are young the reason they try hard to do well at school is strictly connected with their desire to satisfy their parents.

Of course, some kids may be smarter than others but that does not mean that they do not all have stress. Actually, at younger ages, stress is much stronger and makes its presence visible. Even though the tasks are not so demanding the kids experience the situation as something super important and super difficult. The fact that they feel that their parents’ love is in jeopardy if they do not perform in school makes them carry extra weight on their shoulders.

It is obvious that the pen company did not care to raise awareness about stress at young ages or the attitude that parents should adopt. The case was to catch the audience’s attention and this was the perfect way to do it. However, the meaning was clear and everyone wanted to see the rest of the story on their computer screens. Ads can play a positive role in some cases, even if their initial purpose is not that. No matter what the intentions were the message is now here, ”let’s stop pushing people so hard, especially when they are too young.”

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