SLAM! Your child enters their room after a heated argument with you. What was once rare, has become an all-too-familiar scene. You take a deep breath and muster the patience to deal with the outbursts. All the while questioning yourself. Is this just a phase? What if there’s something deeper behind this all? Are they struggling with something? Am I a bad parent?
It's easy to neglect the signs that they may be struggling emotionally. In a world moving at turbo speed, we may fall into a trap thinking that, as a parent, if we don’t talk about it, then it's not there. We can continue to ignore these signs, the long-term effects would not just haunt them but the people who interact with them now and in the future.
It's easy to neglect how our children may be struggling emotionally in a world moving at turbo speed. We fall into the trap of thinking that if we don’t talk about it, it's not there. However, the reality is a lot more complex and frightening. If we continue to ignore these signs,
The world is moving at turbo speed and neglecting how our children struggle emotionally tends to happen. It lures us into the idea that “ignorance is bliss”. I The reality is a lot more complex-and frightening. These signs, when they go unnoticed and not acted on, may result in long-term effects that will continue to haunt, not just your child, but also the people who cross their path now and in the future.
The Hidden Toll of Disregarding Mental Health
We live in a time when life for our children is increasingly stressful. From the relentless demands of schoolwork to the pressure of achieving academic success and the emotional turbulence of puberty, kids are facing challenges we might not fully understand.
Kids often feel like they're alone in their struggles. The stress piles on, and when they feel overwhelmed, they can lash out-becoming rebellious, distant, or even showing extreme emotional responses.
Let me tell you a story that might sound pretty familiar.
Visualise a bright, hard-working kid who used to come home just excited about school, wanting to share their day with you. Over time, however, you've noticed a shift: They become increasingly irritable, snapping at family members, and grades are slipping.
When you ask them what's wrong, they shrug it off or roll their eyes, too exhausted to articulate their feelings. This child may be suffering from anxiety or perhaps taking the load of high expectations, yet all these signs, if not given heed to, may lead to consequences worse than one could imagine.
The Long Shadow of Ignoring Mental Health
1. Poor Academics
You will be rendering your child unable to focus and learn properly during school by not tending to his or her mental health. They will easily forget, fail to meet deadlines, and may find it difficult to complete the smallest of tasks, successfully. A vicious cycle of academic failure may be brought about in this regard, which triggers a further decline in self-confidence and heightens emotional chaos.
2. Developing Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
When emotional hurt is not resolved, unhealthy ways of coping become the norm for children. From substance abuse to self-harm and reckless behavior. Such choices are a consequence of the inability to express one's emotions healthily. Visualise the child who, because of his feelings of insecurity, reaches for harmful forms of escape. This develops into an adult-life vicious circle, making recovery more difficult and keeping a child underdeveloped emotionally.
3. Difficulty Making Friends
Children in emotional turmoil often have a hard time getting along with others. They can either withdraw into themselves and be lonely or act in a manner that makes other kids avoid them. This type of pattern often continues well into adulthood.
4. Reduced Self-esteem
In the struggle for children to overcome mental health challenges that are not taken care of, feelings of worthlessness get internalised within them. They may feel that they are not good enough, thus decreasing their self-esteem level to such a level that may continue nagging them for a long period. These feelings of self-doubt may arise in personal life, academics, and later career development.
5. Increased Chances of Future Mental Disorders
Ignoring the struggles of mental health in childhood may blossom into acute mental health disorders once one attains adult status. Anxiety or depression suffered by children, if left untreated, might change into chronic conditions that require much more extensive treatment later in life.
And that is just a tip of the iceberg. The consequences of neglecting your child's mental health are not only serious but also long-lasting and multi-dimensional.
What we have found out here is astounding, but so much more can be learned. In our next article, we continue to peel the onion, revealing the other hidden dangers of ignoring mental health struggles in our children. More importantly, we'll discuss how you can act today to stem the tide and ensure your child has what they need to thrive.
Keep watching, as the next piece of information might be what will change your child's life as far as his or her mental health and future go.
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This content is provided by Quantum Intelligence.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
