Taking care of your child’s mental health is as important as taking care of their physical health. Just because mental health issues are not visible to the eye- it does not make them non-existent. You, as a parent, can play a significant role in improving your child’s mental health. Poor mental health can affect the way children think, act, and feel.
Statistics show that one in ten children and youngsters are affected by mental health problems. These issues are inclusive of anxiety, depression, conduct disorders, and impulse control disorders. More often than not, these issues are developed as a response to their surrounding events.
Shockingly, 70% of children and teenagers who go through mental health issues have not received any treatments for their problems. It is estimated that 9.8 million Indians in the age range of 13-17 years are suffer from severe mental health issues. Moreover, WHO reported that in 2012, 258,075 Indian students committed suicide. These figures show that the impact of mental illnesses is far more than society can imagine, and the awareness about the seriousness of these illnesses is not adequate.
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Here are some things that can help children develop good mental health:
As science suggests, a healthy mind leads to a healthy body; a healthy body similarly leads to a healthy mind. Therefore, ensuring your child gets access to nutritional food, a balanced diet, and is physical activity can help your child be mentally active.
If a child is given the freedom to make his/her own decisions, even for as little as choosing their time to play, builds strong decision-making skills and resilience to deal with any consequences they face due to their decisions.
Giving your child authority to present their opinions helps them gain confidence in their stand about their likes and dislikes. This also gives them certainty that their parents support them with their thoughts.
Ensure enough admiration, validation, safety, and understanding is given to the child and that they are aware of it. When providing online counselling to the child with these values, remember to deliver it how they want to receive it and not the way you want to show them.
Engagement is vital; however, over-engagement can put you in a bad light as it may seem that you are keeping tabs on the child and therefore questions your trust.
Teach the child to ‘accept’ themselves just the way they are and show them that their flaws do not matter to you as well.
Child behavior to look out for:
- Sleeping too much or too little
- Difficulty paying attention
- Trouble adjusting or being fixated in one place or position.
- Repeated actions with constant checking of things out of fear.
- Has recurrent stomach problems and headaches (with no known cause)
- Shows fewer interests in activities
- Afraid to go to school
Highly common mental health illnesses developed in children and adolescents are anxiety disorders, ADHD or other behavioral disorders, impulse control disorders, mood disorders such as depression and substance abuse. There is a 15-20% lifetime prevalence of anxiety disorders in children. A wide range of anxiety disorders such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, Phobia, etc., share similar features of depressive conditions and adversely affects a child’s academic performances, relations with family, and enjoying hobbies.
How can you help your child if you think they may face any such issues?
- The foremost thing is to openly communicate with your child and allow them to share their thoughts and feelings with you without being judged.
- Meet with your child’s tutor or supervisor to review their behavior within classrooms and during playtimes
- Speak with your child’s paediatrician to discuss any unusual behavior.
- Consider talking to a mental health therapist to help you and your child in dealing with the ongoing difficulty.
A therapist will conduct standardized assessments with your child and provide you with a diagnosis that helps you move forward. Apart from the assessments, the therapist may schedule interviews with the parents to understand the dynamics of the family in a better way.
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