为什么有些孩子现在更快乐?

为什么有些孩子现在更快乐?

Like most parents, Seagal Hagege, a mom of three in Irvine, California, wasn't exactly looking forward to staying at home.

西格尔·哈格格是三个孩子的母亲，住在加州尔湾，和大多数父母一样，她并不期待在家。

Together all day? In one house? How would the kids respond?

一整天都在一起?在一个房子吗?孩子们会作何反应?

Much better than she could have ever imagined, it turns out. Over the course of the past month, she said her kids, ages 8. 7 and 4. have become better behaved, kinder to one another and more independent.

结果比她想象的要好得多。在过去的一个月里，她说她8岁、7岁和4岁的孩子们表现得更好了，对彼此更友善了，也更独立了。

"Beforehand, they didn't have a chance to just be present at home. Every day after school we were running to music, and then we would get home, do homework and go to bed," Hagege said.

“在此之前，他们没有机会只是呆在家里。每天放学后，我们都跟着音乐跑，然后回到家，做作业，上床睡觉，”哈格格说。

"Now we have a chance to take a break together. They've really stepped up,," she said, talking about the games her kids are inventing and their new responsibilities like slicing fruits and vegetables for meals.

“现在我们有机会一起休息一下。他们真的进步了，”她说，谈到她的孩子们正在发明的游戏，以及他们的新职责，比如把水果和蔬菜切成片当饭吃。

"It's been really eye-opening. I don't want it to go back to the way things were."

“这真的让人大开眼界。我不想让它回到过去的样子。”

A number of parents are encountering a similar (and unexpected) response as Hagege: Their children seem happier.

许多父母遇到了与哈格格类似的(出乎意料的)的反应:他们的孩子似乎更快乐。

They are less busy, have more control over their time, are sleeping better, seeing more of their parents, playing more alone or with siblings — and feeling better for it. To be sure, this is but one of many feelings children are experiencing, which also include anxiety, fear and sadness.

他们不再那么忙碌，对时间有更多的控制，睡眠质量更好，能更多地看到父母，更多地独自玩耍或与兄弟姐妹玩耍——而且感觉更好。诚然，这只是孩子们正在经历的许多感觉之一，还包括焦虑、恐惧和悲伤。

And there are a large number of children living with financial insecurity and grief. No sane person would expect kids to be feeling better in those circumstances.

还有很多孩子生活在经济上的不安全感和悲伤中。理智的人不会指望孩子在这种情况下会感觉更好。

Kids are getting to slow down

孩子们开始慢下来了

While it's too early for any studies on a happiness spike, hundreds of families from around the United States have shared on social media and in discussion boards a sense of relief and joy, which tracks with what we know about the causes of childhood anxiety and depression today.

虽然现在做任何关于幸福感激增的研究都还为时过早，但来自美国各地的数百个家庭已经在社交媒体和讨论版上分享了一种解脱和快乐的感觉，这与我们目前所知的导致儿童焦虑和抑郁的原因相吻合。

Between 2009 and 2017. rates of depression rose by roughly 60 percent among those ages 14 to 17. and by 47 percent among those ages 12 to 13. according to a 2019 study. Suicides among 10- to 24-year-olds rose 56 percent from 2007 to 2017.

根据2019年的一项研究，在2009年到2017年之间，14到17岁的人群中抑郁症的比例上升了约60%，12到13岁的人群中上升了47%。从2007年到2017年，10岁到24岁的年轻人自杀率上升了56%。

One of the most well-supported explanations for this rise of mental health disorders is that children have too much going on and not enough choice over what they do. It's a function of a whole society that is overworked and time-poor, and our kids are paying the price for it.

对于这种心理健康障碍的增加，最有力的解释之一是，孩子们有太多的事情要做，却没有足够的选择去做什么。这是整个社会过度工作和缺乏时间的结果，而我们的孩子为此付出了代价。

Why were our children so anxious?

为什么我们的孩子如此焦虑?

Peter Gray, research professor of psychology at Boston College and author of the book "Free to Learn," suspected that the school closures are a big contributing factor to the happiness spike.

波士顿学院心理学研究教授、《自由学习》一书的作者彼得·格雷怀疑，学校停课是导致幸福感飙升的一个重要因素。

School has become more achievement-focused, and recess and opportunities for creative play have shrunk. He said that suicide rates for children are twice as high during the school year than they are during the summer.

学校变得更注重成绩，课间休息和创造性游戏的机会减少了。他说，孩子们在校期间的自杀率是夏季自杀率的两倍。

Making matters worse, children are rarely offered much of a reprieve after the bell rings.

更糟糕的是，孩子们很少能在铃声响起后得到喘息的机会。

"We tend to think children develop best when carefully guided by adults. So the belief is that even when they are out of school, children need to be guided," he said. "Kids rarely get a break from being judged and directed."

“我们倾向于认为，在成年人的悉心引导下，孩子们会发展得最好。所以他们的信念是，即使他们离开了学校，孩子们也需要有人指导。”“孩子们很少能从被评判和指导中得到休息。”