Raising Healthy Children in an Affluent Community

Your community substantially influences your family’s well-being. The types of mental health issues families face, their likelihood of being overweight or suffering from eating disorders, their risk of alcohol or drug use, and the amount of aggression children display – all of these vary by neighborhood.

On the Westside of LA, parents and children live with the effects of “too much.” Westside parents are among those in the United States who, as a group, spend more than $40 billion a year on their children; children spend another $18 billion on their own. Families have multiple TVs, computers, phones, and cars, along with jam-packed schedules, and they spend well over 10 hours a week in their cars – commuting to jobs or ferrying children to and from school and activities.

Children are overscheduled and pressured to achieve from a young age. Free play time has dropped 25% over the past 20 years, while homework has more than doubled. At the same time, children view an average of 40,000 commercials a year. In what free time they do have, many play video games, use the Internet, and watch TV shows with high levels of violence, resulting in up to 7 hours a day of media or computer use.

Affluence and media exposure, along with a culture of excellence at all costs, impact children and families substantially. There is evidence that children from financially well-off homes experience more psychological distress than other groups. For instance, almost a quarter of adolescent girls from affluent families suffer from depression – three times the national rate – and almost half of all high school seniors have used illicit drugs. It is difficult to create a healthy, balanced family routine, in the face of expectations at school, work, on sports teams or in your neighborhood.

Get a better understanding of the range of influences that affect your family. We’ll provide a frame to help you identify your family’s core values, see whether your daily lifestyle matches your value, and think about how you might bring them into greater alignment. We’ll share data that lets you place the experience of your family in the context of average Westside families, other parts of the United States, and selected countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Looking at your family lifestyle through a different lens can give you a new perspective on your own choices, options and values.

Please call 310.395.5650 to schedule a parent seminar on this topic at your school or other group setting. You may also make an appointment for individualized family coaching to address how these issues affect your own family.