MENTAL HEALTH OF CHILDREN

      

Mental health is about our feelings, our thinking, our emotions and our moods. Everybody knows how to look after the physical health but looking after our mental health just as important because, we can’t see it. We need to talk about it. We all have different feelings every day, they come and go. We will feel anger sometimes and excited at sometimes. The same goes to the children. Every parent dreads the possibility that their child suffers from a mental condition. However, the reality is that between 13 to 20 percent of the children between the ages of 3 to 17 suffer from a mental condition each year. It is a critical matter of public health that needs to be addressed. We should nurture children’s mental health and these are the things that parent can do, a teacher can do and anyone who interacts with children. We can use some principles to nurture our children’s mental health.

              

SYMPTOMS OF CHILDREN’S MENTAL ILLNESS:

As we study mental illness and children, we are at the beginning to realize that the symptoms are present earlier than we ever thought possible. Children don’t have to have elder’s concern to experience anxiety. Children can be anxious about a parent leaving, about changes at a family situation. 

Children may stop eating well.

They may also stop sleeping well.

Children may also tell you that they are hearing some voices. This is usually in the case of schizophrenia. Children may always express their mental illness as a physical sign. It could be headaches, abdominal pain and fatigue. If you see your children have an appropriate level of energy seems unusually anxious or is saying things that seem to be disturbing, then no other words, start to visit the doctor.

PREVENTION MEASURES FOR CHILDREN’S MENTAL ILLNESS:

First and foremost prevention thing for the children’s mental illness is to feel safe. They need to feel safe emotionally and physically. We need to make them feel safe to feel their feelings and to express their feelings and emotions. Another major part is Nutrition. Nutrition provides the building blocks to make neurotransmitters responsible for mood, motivation, concentration and energy. Nutrition maintains a healthy gut micro biome to help which is where the 80 percent of neurotransmitters are created. Parents should make sure what their children are eating. The next thing we want our children to do is exercise. We know that exercise helps with mood, it also release endorphins, serotonin, cortisol levels and it increases oxygenation, then the next step is jump rope. Children have fun doing jump rope especially if they are doing it with their friends or the children of their age. 

So, we have to be careful about our children’s mental health. Because they are gifted from god.