Man has to be one of the most confusing creatures God has ever made. It knows not what it wants, rather buries it under a labyrinth of unnecessary things. He wants one thing, and he is running after something completely trivial (wouldn’t it make a great movie! Oh wait, there are already thousands of movies already with the same plotline) For example, when we ask parents what they want for their children in the long term, most of them say they want them to be happy and mentally strong. Well, so far they are on the right track. Now comes the curveball of a question, how are you working on it? Uhhh….
Most of the parents falter at this question. It is because they have never thought about it! They were so busy trying to make them academically flawless( according to academics higher priority than it deserved in life) that they sidelined their long-term goal. How will they achieve something that they haven’t worked for since the beginning?
We may think that it may not be that big a deal, but we could not have been more wrong. The consequences of not prioritizing your mental health are dire. Moreover, they keep becoming more brutal over the years. You may have also started seeing some of the results if you may have ignored your child’s mental health.
Your child will not share anything and become more withdrawn.
When your child is not mentally strong, they are going to be so disturbed. No matter what you do, they may take it in the wrong way. They will start distancing themselves from you, and everything else.
A lot of parents approach us with a problem that their kids have stopped talking to them, or that they are not doing anything with enthusiasm. And the culprit that they have framed for this is the gadget. They feel that everything and anything wrong with their child is the gadget’s doing. It is not true.
When your child is strong on the inside, no external factors can deter him. But, if they are vulnerable, everything has the potential to cause harm to your children. When they are surrounded by so many vices, however, could they make a connection with you?
It will be a burden for your children.
You could literally see your children’s shoulders droop under that excess baggage. Poor mental health comes with an ability to poorly handle challenges, which comes with a lot of stuff that is stored away undealt, or manhandled.
Children should lead happy and carefree life. But, if they are carrying a suitcase constantly on their head with so many things, they are missing out on their life.
These little ones are yet to learn to handle themselves, but they are already battling so many issues that have made a home in their head.
They will lose interest in things that they previously enjoyed.
We sometimes notice that children lose interest in things that give them joy. We think that it is a very sudden change and there is absolutely nothing we can account for this change too. Well, the answer is right in front of us! How could someone enjoy something, when there is so much already on their plate?
A disturbed mind does not allow one the leisure to enjoy anything in life. If your child has suddenly stopped doing something that was very special to them, then we have to take it as one of the warning signs of their deteriorating mental health.
They will never be calm.
Being at peace with oneself is a sign of someone who is in prime mental health. You cannot find someone who is mentally troubled to be totally calm.
They won’t be able to concentrate.
The domino effect of not being calm is not being able to concentrate. It is simple, when we want to fully concentrate on something, we ensure that there are zero distractions. But, when your mind is weak, any and every distraction becomes relevant. And then this can focus on studies? Obviously, no. So how do you expect this child to perform well in anything be it studies or sports?
If you are mentally strong, nothing can deter you from your goal, but when that is not the case, everything is a distraction.
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All the success in the world will not be enough.
Even if your child is at the peak of success(which will be in any case very difficult to achieve), they will not be satisfied. They will always be looking for something more. When they are mentally weak, there will always be a void that they will try to fill with something material in life.
When someone is not happy because of what is going on on the inside, no amount of success or exterior happiness can make them truly happy. Our happiness should not depend on the world. It is something which should be completed in our own hands.
Now, one can be happy in fewer things. But at the same time, millions in the bank account do not make someone content. Why is that? Because there are no fixed guidelines for it! Every person decides it for themselves.
Weak Bond with Parents
Most parents always wonder why their kids are not willing to share with them, why they don’t listen. More often than not they don’t respect the parents. If kids grow up to be successful in life against all odds as mentioned above, they are unwilling to acknowledge their parents’ role. There is a total disconnect between parents and kids.
All this happens despite parents having done so much for their children. Do you know why? The answer is here in this blog.
It is an invitation to scores of personal and professional challenges.
When our mental health has been neglected, there is no way there are no challenges faced by us. We do have challenges, we just do not realize that it is because of poor mental health.
When there is a problem with our family or in our personal life we reason it out that it is because of differences in opinion or something like that. And when there are challenges on the professional front, we put it on ‘work stress.’
More often than none, these challenges are not resolved, they keep getting bigger and multiplying. But, what we fail to realize is that these issues or challenges persist because we haven’t figured out how to deal with them. External factors may be a reason, but it is a very small part of it. Our capability of dealing with these situations is the major deciding factor on whether or not we will be able to overcome these challenges.
If it is let to fester for long enough, it starts showing on their health.
Our subconscious mind is very interesting. One of its qualities is that it sends us signals when something is wrong. But when we chose to ignore its warnings, it decides to take extreme measures. It makes absolutely sure that you do not ignore it any longer.
Slowly, your mental challenges start presenting themselves as physical injuries. Things like headaches, fevers, weakness, etc. are some of the smaller reactions. But, it can become much more serious too if things have gone too far.
The bottom line is, everything related to our child’s future, development, success, and so much more is entirely dependent on the ‘mental health’ pillar. It is something with which we can roll the dice and take a gamble that they may improve on it after everything else is achieved, it is far too important. We simply cannot compromise with it.