A free app for parents to help prevent bullying, created by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Agency (SAMHSA). The director of the World Database of Happiness, Prof Ruut Veenhoven, also believes young people are less burdened by an expectation to “be good”. McGlynn C, Johnson K. Criminalising Cyberflashing: Options for Law Reform. The Journal of Criminal Law. 2020; 85(3):171–188. doi: 10.1177/0022018320972306. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

Setty E. Meanings of bodily and sexual expression in youth sexting culture: Young women’s negotiation of gendered risks and harms. Sex Roles. 2019; 80:586–606. doi: 10.1007/s11199-018-0957-x. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] With so much unmonitored time to access internet resources or stumble across pornography, what are families to do?

Developmental Milestones

StopBullying.gov provides information from various government agencies on how children, parents, educatorsand others in the communitycan prevent or stop bullying. Interviewer: That’s really useful and important, have you been taught about sexual assault in your sex education? For Tjalling, it is pretty simple. “In the Netherlands we are rich, most things around children are well organised, like school and healthcare, and if people are poor, we try to help them. That’s maybe why children are happy. Nayak A, Kehily M. Gender Undone: Subversion, Regulation and Embodiment in the Work of Judith Butler. British Journal of Sociology of Education. 2006; 27(4):459–472. doi: 10.1080/01425690600803038. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar] I think Dutch children have generally positive interactions in all their social surroundings,” says De Roos. “They have a supportive environment at home, with friends and also at school. Dutch parents give a lot of support and have mild control. There’s an egalitarian climate, teachers are not authoritarian but accept the feelings of pupils, and pupils trust teachers.”

Sam: People have Photoshop, they can do anything, they can take a picture of their hand and put it on there. Please stop putting the bar higher, because we have happy children,” she says. “We already have so many highly educated people, and at the moment there are not enough people to do the plumbing and carpentry jobs.” Dr Simone de Roos, a researcher at the Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP), says life satisfaction among teenagers has not dropped since 2013. Setty, E. (2019b). A rights-based approach to youth sexting: Challenging risk, shame, and the denial of rights to bodily autonomy and sexual expression Within Youth Digital Sexual Culture. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, 1,298–311 (2019). 10.1007/s42380-019-00050-6 Dani, whose mother is Indonesian and Polish and whose father is Moroccan, says his father spends more time on Facebook than he does.Julia: But it’s like because it’s your friend then like you’re already close to them, I don’t know how to explain it, they send you something that’s weird, like sexual, like weird shit, then that’s weird but like…Yeah, if they go to the same school as you then you see them every day, and it just reminds you of like what they did. So awkward. Naezer M, van Oosterhout L. Only sluts love sexting: Youth, sexual norms and non-consensual sharing of digital sexual images. Journal of Gender Studies. 2021; 30(1):79–90. doi: 10.1080/09589236.2020.1799767. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]

If you look across Europe, the Dutch and the Danes are the most lenient and focus more on developing autonomy than giving priority to obedience – and that fits the society,” he says. “Children are more free to do what they want, and in doing what they want, develop an idea of what they really like and social skills. A happy boy may be sometimes not a very good boy.” Make sure your child gets the recommended amount of sleepeach night: For teenagers 13-18 years, 8–10 hours per 24 hours (including naps) Kiara: …it's the same story like I don't know them. It's just boys from the other school send us both one. SAMHSA works to improve the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, alcohol and drug addiction treatment, and mental health services. I was at my nan’s house… because my nan watches Pointless, and stuff like that, and I can’t be arsed to watch Pointless so I was just on my phone. I was scared. My dad was sitting next to me, so I was just like…LAUGHS… Yeah, like I don’t want mum to see this. I cried. I was swearing down the phone, so uncomfortable. (SELC, Year 8 mixed)Ash: People as well, they go on Google and then they look for naked bodies of people, and then they post it on Snapchat and say oh this is someone, when it’s not even them. Kate: For boys it’s kind of like, it heightens them up, they are like oh I got a girl…Normalised with boys to like behave that way, I think. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides information on health and nutrition for children over 5 years of age. Visit NICHD to learn how to reduce the risk of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and about safe sleep environments.

Renold E. ‘Feel what I feel’: Making da(r)ta with teen girls for creative activisms on how sexual violence matters. Journal of Gender Studies. 2018; 27(1):37–55. doi: 10.1080/09589236.2017.1296352. [ CrossRef] [ Google Scholar]Keep television sets out of your teen’s bedroom. Set limits for screen time, including cell phones, computers, video games, and other devices, and develop a family media plan. external icon Department for Education. (2020). Sharing nudes and semi-nudes: Advice for education settings 2020. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/908013/Relationships_Education__Relationships_and_Sex_Education__RSE__and_Health_Education.pdf Carrie: basically, obviously, my Snapchat has a massive score, which means loads of people have me as a friend, which means a load of paedophiles can send stuff to me…they just send it when I’m here to do streaks and get a higher score, but they’re just doing it the other way because they want that. And I just want streaks, because Despite the country’s reputation for cannabis smoking, the Trimbos Institute reports a downward trend for using alcohol and drugs and smoking in Dutch children aged 12 to 16. Such activities are described by HBSC experts as “risk behaviours” that impact happiness.