🧒🏼🌱 “Why Today’s School Kids Look Older, Weaker… and at Risk”

✍️ By Dr. Subha R, BAMS 

Hi Everyone,  how are you all!!!

 When I was in school, we all truly looked like children—thin limbs, shining eyes, innocent smiles. We were lean, playful, and emotionally grounded. But today, many school-going kids look like college students in both size and fashion—but not in strength or mindset. I began wondering: Is it just me noticing this? Or is childhood truly shrinking? This blog is my journey to answer that question—with science, Ayurveda, and lived observation.

1. 🧬 Early Puberty: Growing Up Too Soon

Girls today start puberty as early as 8–9 years, compared to 12–13 in the 1990s.

COVID lockdowns caused a surge in early puberty diagnoses across countries.

External maturity comes before internal readiness—causing anxiety, confusion, and emotional struggles.

2. ⚖️ Obesity and Puberty: A Vicious Circle

Overweight girls are 4x more likely to enter puberty early.

Obesity raises insulin, leptin, and estrogen—triggering early hormonal shifts.

Kids are often larger in body, but with fragile bones, weak muscles, and low stamina.

📚 Reference:

Frontiers in Pediatrics

PMC Research

3. 🧠 Mental Health: The Hidden Burden

Kids with early puberty are at higher risk of depression, anxiety, attention issues.

Girls especially face body-image distress and social isolation.

Emotional strength is declining, and many children are showing signs of mental fatigue at an early age.

📚 Reference:

Medscape

4. 🧍‍♀️ Olden-Day Girls Were Lean but Strong

In the early 2000s:

We walked more, lifted groceries, played outdoors—even with a thin frame, we were strong and flexible.

We had fewer reproductive issues, stable emotions, and natural immunity.

Today:

Despite looking bigger or “healthy,” many girls face fatigue, PCOS, hair fall, early periods, and low emotional stamina.

5. 🌪️ Environmental & Emotional Factors

Exposure to plastics (BPA), hormone-rich food, and stress in childhood = early hormonal activation.

Emotional neglect, peer comparison, and screen overexposure cause Vata and Pitta imbalance, weakening mental grounding.

🪔 Ayurvedic Wisdom on the Issue

Childhood is the phase of Kapha dominance, meant to grow steadily with nourishment and rest

But today, due to Ahara (wrong food) and Vihara (rushed lifestyle):

Agni becomes weak (Agnimandhya)

Kapha increases excessively → weight gain, PCOS

Shukra Dhatu develops early → premature puberty

Ojas is disturbed → weak immunity and emotional imbalance

💡 What We Can Do as Parents & Caregivers

✅ Promote real food: millets, ghee, fresh fruits, warm water

✅ Reintroduce Abhyanga (oil massage), barefoot walking, Surya Namaskara

✅ Replace screen time with creative time: art, dance, gardening

✅ Teach self-worth beyond appearance or maturity

✅ Start early: signs of hormonal change or obesity need Ayurvedic balancing—not just medical suppression

“It’s not just about height or weight. Today’s children are growing fast, but not growing well. They carry adult-like bodies but lack emotional readiness, strength, and health.

As a doctor and as someone who once was that playful little girl, I say: Let’s give childhood back to our children—by slowing it down, nourishing it naturally, and raising them with rhythm and love.”

📲 Connect with Me

Have you seen these changes in kids around you too?

Let’s talk about it!

Comment below