An early and concerning national shift is emerging in children’s emotional wellbeing. Anxiety, emotional withdrawal, irritability and restlessness are appearing earlier than we expect, often mistaken for passing phases or blamed on temperament. But these are not isolated behaviours. They are early signals of emotional overload in a world that has become far more demanding than children’s developing minds are ready for.
Mental health challenges in children rarely arrive dramatically. They surface slowly, between school schedules, screens, academic pressure and social comparison. A child who once played freely now scrolls endlessly. One who spoke easily is withdrawn. Another becomes impulsive or unusually anxious. In a society that values achievement and resilience, these changes are easy to overlook, particularly when silence is mistaken for strength.
As childhood itself changes, the world children are growing into is evolving faster than the emotional scaffolding meant to support them. Childhood, today, is marked by constant stimulation and shrinking emotional space. Screens promise connection but deliver relentless comparison. Academic pressure leaves little room for rest, play or reflection. The adolescent brain, still under construction, is especially sensitive to these conditions. Hence, when emotional regulation is strained early, the consequences often emerge later as anxiety, low self-worth or risk-taking behaviour.
This context matters even more deeply when we look at the worrying rise in early substance use. Reports showing children as young as 11 experimenting with drugs should not be viewed only through a moral or disciplinary lens. Substance use is rarely the beginning of the story. More often, it follows emotional vulnerability, social anxiety and an unmet need for reassurance or belonging, as when inner confidence is fragile, external escapes become tempting. According to child psychologists, drugs, in such cases, are not acts of rebellion, but attempts at relief.
Australia’s recent decision to restrict social media access for younger children is not merely a regulatory move. It is an acknowledgment that digital exposure, when layered onto immature emotional systems, carries developmental risks. While bans alone are not a solution, they signal a growing understanding that children’s mental health must be protected upstream, not addressed only after harm has occurred.
Yet, much like adult health care, our approach to children’s mental health remains largely reactive. We step in after academic decline, emotional breakdown or addiction. Prevention is discussed, but rarely embedded into daily life. Schools prioritise performance. Homes focus on safety and success. Emotional resilience is assumed to develop on its own, but it does not.
Screens, too, demand a more nuanced conversation. Digital access is not inherently harmful, but it requires emotional grounding. Restrictions without resilience create dependence, not strength. Children need guidance, self-regulation and self-belief, not just rules that limit access.
Moreover, mental health infrastructure for children cannot exist only in clinics and counselling rooms. It must live in routines and relationships. In shared meals, unhurried conversations, movement, sleep and play. In teaching children how to name emotions, tolerate discomfort, and recover from failure. These everyday practices shape neural pathways long before clinical care is ever needed.
Encouragingly, the Union Budget 2026 has placed mental health at the heart of India’s public health agenda, recognising that emotional wellbeing is as fundamental to nation-building as physical health. In the light of the growing recognition of mental wellbeing, the Apollo Shine Foundation, India’s largest hospital-backed student health initiative, facilitates special sessions focused on emotional wellbeing, and connects students to specialists when needed.
India’s future depends not only on the size of its young population, but also on their inner strength. Emotional health underpins learning, productivity, relationships and long-term wellbeing. The answer does not lie in fear or control. It lies in attention. In recognising that mental health, like physical health, is built long before illness appears.
Dr Preetha Reddy is Executive Vice Chairperson of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Limited.