Talking Mental Health - The AMI School

Mental health is as important as physical health

In our society we do not pay much attention to those who suffer from mental health as we do not consider it a problem at all. We blame the person for acting a certain way but we never try to help them counter it. In this blog we will be talking about how mental health is important for everyone and specially children.

So what is mental illness? Mental illness is something that affects a person’s mind where one does not have control over their emotions which can lead to depression, anxiety or many other types of mental illnesses which are just like physical diseases if not taken care of at an early stage.

A large number of children in the world suffer from such issues and that could be because of many reasons, and if not taken care of at that time can result in life long diseases. So it is important for us to know what our children are going through and always help them through their rough times.

Why does this occur?

A child’s mental health can be affected by small reasons as they are very vulnerable. The reasons could be moving home, traumatic experiences like an accident, family members not getting along, aggression or switching of school, etc. Children have attachments and when these attachments are broken, they are highly affected. So we should always value their attachments and help them get over them by supporting them in a caring manner rather than choosing to ignore them.

How can we help improve a child’s mental health?

We should listen to them always.
We should help them eat a balanced diet.
We should encourage them to exercise regularly.
Family time is very important where the child should be given extra attention and they should feel heard.
They should be given freedom to play indoors and outdoors at least once in a day.
They should be encouraged to make friends at school and in the neighborhood.
It is important to always be optimistic and avoid arguments when your child is around.
They should be given freedom of speech so they become confident at a very young age.

All these are very important as preventions because research says that now the rate of mental illness is much higher than that of 30 years ago. It is essential that we include leisure and entertainment for ourselves and our families in daily routines to manage the unavoidable stress and anxiety in our lives.