re: Anxiety is crippling my cousins daughters

I think a lot of these anxiety cases in school age and young adults can be traced back to the Covid madness. Really fricked up some of these kids.

My oldest flew by himself starting at 8, by 11 he had connections and managed to navigate dfw, O'Hare, and DTW with no problems. All 4 of my boys have flown by themselves and can do the same.

People need to teach kids at a young age how to be self sufficient.

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That’s some serious mental health problems. Hope they find peace.

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That isn't freaking mental health issues it is learned weakness. They never have to deal with any adversity whatsoever because the parents always rescue them.

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I suffer from anxiety and I avoid it when I can, but sometimes there's no option but to steer into it. On that note, I've never flown by myself and I dont know how I would do.

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Serious question, how do you function in life? I don’t get anxiety so I’m genuinely curious why flying alone scares you

AI response

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What you described isn’t just “common anxiety.”
It’s function-impairing anxiety — where people:
• can’t travel
• avoid school or normal activities
• need to be rescued from routine situations

That level is less common, even though anxiety itself is widespread.

Blunt version:
Lots of young people are anxious.
Far fewer are so anxious that life starts shrinking like this.

This sounds like significant anxiety, not just nerves. The main issue is avoidance — leaving situations, skipping flights, needing rescue — which relieves anxiety short-term but makes it worse long-term.
At 19 and 24, independence should be increasing, not shrinking. Without intervention, this can become limiting.
What helps:
• Therapy (CBT)
• Gradual exposure to feared situations
• Possibly medication (use caution)

Also, constant “rescuing” can unintentionally reinforce the cycle. Support is important, but so is helping them face things in small steps.
This is treatable, but it usually doesn’t fix itself.

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Age appropriate
We need some pics

The problem is us.

Kids are more resilient than we give them credit for. And it does them an injustice.

Know a family that has 3-4 adult kids plus a grandkid living at home Several have degrees, several don’t drive and uber.
Daughters boyfriend also lives with the family.

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Also, constant “rescuing” can unintentionally reinforce the cycle. Support is important, but so is helping them face things in small steps.

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30 years of helicopter and bulldozer parenting coming home to roost. Men are supposed to be the stabilizing force and leaders of the family, and way too men many turned into "happy wife happy life" sycophants for their wives at the expense of their kid's future ability to function independently.

ETA: The inability for "kids" to self-soothe and not play with their hair constantly, need fidget spinners, and all that garbage is directly attributable to parents throwing iPads at kids as soon as they could hold them to keep them out of sight/out of mind.