Children in America are prescribed antibiotics twice as often as necessary. The prescriptions are written for colds and other infections these drugs are not designed to fight, on the slim chance (27%)1 that is could actually help. Parent and physician desire to balance a safe intervention and returning kids to health is skewed, resulting in a severe rise in antibiotic resistance.
References:
[1] Kronman, Matthew, Chuan Zhou, and Rita Mangione-Smith. 2014. “Bacterial Prevalence and Antimicrobial Prescribing Trends for Acute Respiratory Tract Infections.” American Academy of Pediatrics 134 (4): 956-965.