Hear Me out
Mental awareness for children and teens is not just about education, but empowerment. Not only does it help them to know how to maneuver their own mental health, but it teaches them empathy and understanding for others, too. So, as we go into a new year, let’s see how we can empower them to get rid of old habits and thinking and walk into 2023 with something that they can carry with them for life!
Mental awareness
Consequently, as adults, it’s easy to fall into the trap of wanting to manage everything for our kids. We want to protect them from having to deal with the things that we know are hard, after all. Parents and other caregivers try to micromanage everything about their child’s mental health, but it’s important to allow your kids to be involved.
Mental awareness
Until now awareness about mental health is a minor concern. Despite the resources and assess availability. Many still don’t understand the need for these types of service. Such as help you figure out what is age-appropriate for your kids, so they can learn how to cope. As caregivers, we are working ourselves out of a job. Eventually, your kids will ideally be on their own and we should empower them to do this.
Mental awareness
One of the most important things for our teens to know is that mental health issues cannot be tied to single causes. They are not caused by character flaws or weaknesses on their part, but by complex chemical imbalances in the brain. This means that our kids should not blame themselves for their struggles. It is not their fault. They are not weak. They can combat the things that may be harder for them than others.
Mental awareness
The importance of mental health to put it another way they can and should be kind to themselves. One way they can do this is to understand that there’s no such thing as bad emotions. That doesn’t mean they won’t feel unpleasant emotions sometimes. What it does mean is that it’s okay to feel sad or angry, and they should not feel guilty for it, nor should they just suppress them
Acknowledging your emotions is the first step to learning how to deal with them, and pushing them down is like keeping your pressurized soda bottle closed only for it to explode in your face later.
Awareness of mental health
For example, let’s say your kid fumbles in an important game or fails a test. They might end up slipping into feeling worthless and hate themselves for failing. Shoving these feelings down often makes it harder to do better next time, especially for someone with mental health issues. So, empower them to understand their feelings and address them. Help them not to tie their sense of self-worth to accomplishments because failure is a part of life.
Awareness
Also, this might be as hard for you as a caregiver as for them, but sometimes failure is a sign that it is time to move on from a specific activity, to find something that they are better suited for. Acknowledging and celebrating the different types of intelligence someone can have is a useful skill that can help them to have a different perspective of themselves and others.
National mental health awareness month is a time to spread consciousness, but take the time to do this daily. And, finally, help them to focus on the positives. Life has so much negativity that it can be hard to see past it, which can make mental health issues worse. They may not be good at football, but maybe they’re great at art. They may have failed the test, but they have time to study for the next one.
These are skills you can model for and practice with your kid every day. Step back sometimes and allow them to apply them to their lives. They might end up surprising you and even themselves.