Mark Russell of the Children’s Society says we must invest in young people and improve their life satisfaction. Plus letters from Mark Lewinski-Grende and Dr Peter Appleton
On the state of children’s mental health, your correspondent Mel Wood last week asked why so many children in the UK are deeply unhappy (Letters, 23 September). It’s a question we at the Children’s Society have committed ourselves to answering, and a situation we are determined to change over the next decade.
Over the past 10 years, we have been asking British children and young people about their lives and charting their wellbeing in our Good Childhood Report. Children have been telling us that school, fear of failure, friendships and worries over their appearance are making them feel unhappy with their lives. Teenagers are coming under pressure from so many angles and held to high standards, which appears to be having a detrimental impact on their wellbeing.