{"id":210,"date":"2025-09-11T17:59:00","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/good-worldwide.go-vip.net\/upworthy\/2025\/09\/11\/do-only-children-get-lonely\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T17:59:00","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T17:59:00","slug":"do-only-children-get-lonely","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goodinc.com\/qa-upworthy\/2025\/09\/11\/do-only-children-get-lonely\/","title":{"rendered":"Social worker explains why she never helps young daughter make friends, even when she’s lonely"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the generational stereotypes that Millennials<\/a> and Gen Zers<\/a> have had foisted on them by older people is that they lack resilience<\/a>. The knock isn\u2019t completely unfounded, because many have been raised by lawnmower parents<\/u><\/a> who cut down any obstacle that was in their way as children. So, as adults, they never developed the ability to handle difficult social situations. This can lead to a sense of entitlement and social anxiety.<\/a><\/p>

\u201cLots of parents want to keep their children<\/a> safe and feel the need to do all they can to achieve this, even when it is too much on them or their child,\u201d Channing Richmond, a licensed marriage and family therapist in the San Francisco Bay Area, told <\/u>Parents<\/em><\/a>. That\u2019s why Helen Turner<\/a>, a social worker and LMFT, doesn\u2019t get involved even when her first-grade daughter is feeling socially isolated at school.<\/p>

\"young
A young girl alone at a window. u200bvia Canva\/Photos<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure> <\/p>

The difference between being a mom and a social worker<\/h2>

\u201cMy daughter has been coming home every night of first grade so far, saying that she does not have any friends at school, that no one wants to play with her. And while, as a parent, that’s heartbreaking, as a social worker, I’m not gonna do anything about it,\u201d Turner opens her viral video that has been seen over 33,000 times. <\/p>

\u201cOften times, when parents insert themselves into these kinds of things and attempt to problem solve the situation for their child because they want the problem to be fixed, what they’re actually doing is taking the ability for their child to learn what to do in these situations away from their child, which in turn provides a really short term fix for something that will likely be an ongoing, long term, lifelong issue,\u201d she continues.<\/p>

What is distress tolerance?<\/h2>

Turner says that the ability to endure the feeling of rejection and allow it to prompt someone to take action is called distress tolerance. \u201cDistress tolerance is a person’s ability to manage actual or perceived emotional distress,\u201d writes Matthew Tull, PhD, in Verywell Mind<\/em><\/u><\/a>. \u201cIt also involves making it through an emotional incident without making it worse. People who have low distress tolerance tend to become overwhelmed by stressful situations and may sometimes turn to unhealthy or even destructive ways of coping with these difficult emotions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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@helennichole3<\/a>

Real life: School social worker as a mother. #parenthood<\/a> #parenthack<\/a> #school<\/a> #socialwork<\/a> #childhood<\/a> <\/p> \u266c original sound – Helen Nichole<\/a> <\/section> <\/blockquote>