Two years into the war: One in every five calls to ERAN is from a child or adolescent

As the State of Israel copes with an ongoing reality of uncertainty, security-related anxiety, and social fracture, the ERAN – Emotional First Aid Association recently marked ERAN Week, dedicated to raising awareness of seeking emotional first aid in any situation of distress and to emphasizing the critical role of listening and support in saving lives.

“This is a generation of children who developed amid a sequence of upheavals,” she explains. “From the coronavirus and social isolation, through prolonged life under the shadow of anxiety and fear, to the Iron Swords war, evacuation from homes, parents in reserve duty, disruption of routine, and existential uncertainty. Many children learned to adapt far too quickly. Some became mature beyond their years, others keep everything inside – tense, quiet, struggling to ask for help or even to identify that they are in distress. These are not always the children who express distress out loud, but דווקא those who continue to function while the emotional burden accumulates.”

The data reinforce these statements: In 2025 on average, nearly every fifth call to ERAN comes from children and adolescents. Behind this figure are life stories of loneliness, ongoing anxiety, emotional overload, and damage to social and family connections. Many callers also cope with learning difficulties, a decline in motivation and ability to concentrate, and worries surrounding combat military service and coping with a tense security reality. Alongside this arise daily fears, a sense of instability and lack of belonging, and questions concerning personal identity, their place in the world, and their ability to cope with what lies ahead – sometimes already at a very young age.

Within this reality, Dr. Daniels points to the critical role of parents as the primary stabilizing factor in the lives of children and adolescents. According to her, the Israeli parent today is required to provide a sense of stability and security for their children even when they themselves are coping with emotional overload, anxiety, and ongoing exhaustion.

“The parent is in a very complex position,” she says. “Even when exhausted, worried, or overwhelmed, they are expected to regulate emotions, calm, explain reality, and remain a figure one can rely on. For children, the way a parent is present and responds is sometimes the difference between an experience that can be contained and distress that escalates. This is a more demanding role than ever, imposed on many parents, sometimes without sufficient support and without space for personal emotional processing.”

According to her, one of the central challenges for parents today is to mediate reality for children in an honest yet regulated manner, without increasing anxiety levels. “There is no need to hide the truth,” she emphasizes, “but it is important to adapt it to the child’s age, leave room for questions, and convey a clear sense that there is a responsible adult who understands the bigger picture and is holding it. Children need to know that there is someone there for them and protecting them, emotionally no less than physically.”

Dr. Daniels adds that children and adolescents often indirectly test their parents’ ability to contain distress. Sometimes this happens through a casual remark or a story about a friend – a kind of trial balloon meant to check whether it is permissible to talk about difficulty. “When a child says, for example, that a friend has started meeting with the school counselor,” she explains, “a judgmental response like ‘What, does he have problems?’ may close the door. In contrast, a statement like ‘This really is not a simple period’ invites conversation and conveys the message that it is okay to feel, okay to deliberate, and okay to ask for help. This opens a space in which the child can share their feelings without fear of criticism or labeling.”

In the background is also the impact of prolonged reserve military service on the family unit. The absence of a parent from home, changes in the division of roles, and sometimes the return of a parent who is themselves coping with emotional or mental injury directly affect the sense of security and the relationship with the children. “Even in such situations,” Dr. Daniels emphasizes, “the emotional presence of the parent is significant, even if it is partial and imperfect.” Alongside this, she stresses the importance of maintaining routine, leisure, and play, precisely during periods of overload and difficulty. “Play is not a luxury,” she says. “For children, it is a central regulation tool, an emotional language, and a way to process complex reality.”

ERAN Week, Dr. Daniels emphasizes, seeks to remind that asking for help is a courageous choice. “Precisely within a tense reality, the ability to stop and say that it is hard is a strength. Distress needs to be expressed and not kept inside – among children, among parents, and among every person.”