There are lots of traits I hope to pass on to my kids, such as my strong work ethic and desire to succeed. But there are a few traits I hope they don’t inherit, and my tendency to worry is at the top of the list. My daughter (who is 3) has already started to exhibit some of those traits, being a little adult who wants to take care of everyone and everything. For a long time I’ve thought that it was in her genes, and maybe she’s just destined to be like me. But a new study is showing that environment might have an even bigger influence. The study, published in the journal Nature, analyzed the brains of rhesus monkeys to see how genetic and environmental influences affect the parts of the brain that cause anxiety. The researchers estimated that only about 35% of anxiety risk is inherited- at least in monkeys. The scientists did brain scans, and were able to predict which monkeys would be more anxious based on their brain activity. This could be helpful when diagnosing anxiety problems in young children. Honestly, I worry about everything. Did my kids eat enough breakfast? Did we read enough books today? Am I going to be late for work? Is the house clean? The list goes on and on….. It creates a certain degree of stress in my life, but it is something I’m trying to work on. It was manageable when I just had me to worry about, but once I got married and had kids, worrying about me and everyone else just became too much. So I’m learning to relax about some of the things that just aren’t important enough to worry about. I’ve also found that worrying about things in front of my daughter causes her to worry. If I’m stressed out because we’re late for her tumbling class, then she gets stressed out too. Setting a good example and creating a more relaxed environment have been key to helping her stay calm and prevent her from worrying about things that she doesn’t understand or are totally out of her control. If she wants to worry about which outfit to put on her baby doll, I guess that’s not the worst problem in the world. Are you a worrier? Have you passed that trait along to your children? How have you been able to prevent that from happening? |
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