{"id":35445,"date":"2023-10-13T12:29:00","date_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/"},"modified":"2023-10-13T12:29:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-13T12:29:00","slug":"are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a <em>New York Times<\/em> editorial, David French notes the frequent conversations he has with parents of teenagers about the teen mental health crisis in America. French writes, &ldquo;As a parent of a teenager, I see this world every day.&rdquo; But then he raises the following questions about this crisis: &ldquo;What if the call [to anxiety and depression and rage] is also coming from inside the house? What if parents are inadvertently contributing to their own kids&rsquo; pain?&rdquo;<\/p>\n\n<p>French writes:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>When we think about children and screens, let&rsquo;s also consider the relationship between adults and their TVs and smartphones. Watch [the news] and you&rsquo;ll see a discourse dominated by fear and anger. If you spend any time at all on political Twitter [or Facebook], you&rsquo;ll quickly see a level of vicious, personal attacks that differ little from the most extreme personal bullying a person can experience in middle school or high school.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>\n\n<p>What should we do about it? French concludes:<\/p>\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>It might be worth asking a simple question: How much fear and anxiety should we import into our lives and homes? Forget teens, for the moment. Are we proving any more capable of handling the information age? It&rsquo;s a question I honestly ask myself &hellip; I know that my anxiety can radiate outward to affect my kids &hellip;. If we want to heal our children [we] may well start by seeking the help we need to heal ourselves.<\/p>\n<p>\n\n<\/p>\n\n<\/blockquote>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[446],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3422,3726,3762,3977,4127,4160,4245,4444,4457,4584,4594,4596,4597,4762,5012,5086,5130,5131],"tax_ctp_topics":[390,396],"class_list":["post-35445","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-anxiety","tax_ctp_tags-culture","tax_ctp_tags-depravity","tax_ctp_tags-fear-of-death","tax_ctp_tags-healing","tax_ctp_tags-home","tax_ctp_tags-influence","tax_ctp_tags-media","tax_ctp_tags-mental-illness","tax_ctp_tags-pain","tax_ctp_tags-parental-influence","tax_ctp_tags-parenting","tax_ctp_tags-parents","tax_ctp_tags-rage","tax_ctp_tags-social-media","tax_ctp_tags-stress","tax_ctp_tags-teens","tax_ctp_tags-television"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are? - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are? - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a New York Times editorial, David French notes the frequent conversations he has with parents of teenagers about the teen mental health crisis in America. French writes, &ldquo;As a parent of a teenager, I see this world every day.&rdquo; But then he raises the following questions about this crisis: &ldquo;What if the call [to Read more...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/12\/ogimage.png?resize=1200,628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CTpastors\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/\",\"name\":\"Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are? - CT Pastors\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-10-13T12:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-10-13T12:29:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"name\":\"CT Pastors\",\"description\":\"Timeless wisdom for pastors with forward-thinking solutions\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Christianity Today\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2025\/08\/logo_ctpastors_black.svg\",\"caption\":\"Christianity Today\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CTPastors\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CTpastors\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are? - CT Pastors","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/are-kids-sad-and-stressed-because-their-parents-are\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Are Kids Sad and Stressed Because Their Parents Are? - CT Pastors","og_description":"In a New York Times editorial, David French notes the frequent conversations he has with parents of teenagers about the teen mental health crisis in America. 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