Parents consistently overestimate their children’s optimism and downplay their worries, according to new research by psychologists at the University of California, Davis, Center for Mind and Brain.
Do pediatricians have to take what parents tell them about their children with a grain of salt?
In three separate studies involving more than 500 children ages 4 through 11, they found that parents consistently rated their children as being less worried and more optimistic than the children rated themselves.
The questions involved common childhood anxieties such as being scared of the dark, or worries about something bad happening to a family member.
The takeaway is if you want to know how a child is feeling, ask them directly!
Read article from Medical News Today.