Mercy Muroki: If Trump, Brexit, Coronavirus and anxiety are the word's children are using to sum up their lives, something has gone wrong

The word 'anxiety' has been voted the children's 2021 word of the year in an Oxford University Press survey of 8000 pupils in Britain.

Researchers at the Oxford University Press say 1 in 5 children surveyed chose anxiety as their number one word when asked to describe their wellbeing and experiences during lockdown.

The words 'challenging' and 'isolate' took second and third place.

Now, according to the Times, Helen Freeman, Director of Early Childhood and Home Education at the Press said this of the findings, and I quote: "The research highlights the vital role language plays for children when it comes to self-expression, learning and wellbeing. It's important now, more than ever, that we invest in supporting children's language development at home and in school"

With all due respect to Ms. Freeman, she's completely missed the mark, there.

The ONLY thing this research highlights is how we've crippled children's will to live, how we – adults – have created an environment of unbridled fear around coronavirus and how this has seeped into children's innocent little minds.

But there's something else, if you look at the 'word of the year' for the last few years, it tells quite an interesting story. 2021: anxiety 2020: coronavirus 2019: Brexit 2018: Plastic 2017: Trump And the children's top work for the year 2016: Refugee It might not surprise you to know then that the survey of kids is commissioned by none other than the BBC...

Now, I think that not only are we paralysing children with fear of COVID, but we’re completely over-politicising their lives.

I'm all for children learning about the world around them but if Trump, Brexit, and Coronavirus and worst of all 'anxiety' are the word's children are using to sum up their lives, then something's gone drastically wrong.