It is normal for teenagers to be moody sometimes.
But if it has gotten so extreme, it could be a sign of something more – perhaps, a mental illness?
Mental illness in teens is more common than you think. Thankfully, this condition is treatable. But there are certain things one must be aware of when dealing with a teen’s mental health.
Are You Communicating
Parenting a teen can be complicated, especially since they are already at a stage where they tend to make decisions without thinking about the consequences.
When looking after your teens’ mental health, you must establish a healthy connection with them. As your kids grow, communication is one way you can show your love and respect. Having a healthy and trusting relationship with your child during their teenage years is more important than ever.
When communicating with your child, make sure to listen. Kids will be more likely to open up if you do not pressure them into sharing information and if you show your willingness to listen and understand.
Stay open and interested, but avoid prying. When discussing sensitive topics like a breakup, think about your child’s feelings before saying something. Show your child that you understand what they are going through and show some empathy.
Make your teens feel that you trust them. Just like adults, they want you to take them seriously. By showing that you trust them, their confidence level will improve, which boosts their mental health.
When setting rules, make sure to explain the reason behind them. Knowing the reason for implementing these rules will make it easier for them to abide by these rules.
More importantly, try to control your emotions. It’s easy for parents to flare up when teens are being hardheaded, but try not to react negatively. Unlike you, teens are less able to control their emotions or think logically when upset.
Emotional Resilience
Resiliency is the ability to overcome challenges like personal crises or tragedy and bounce back stronger and wiser. Teens must understand the value of resilience as this is what they should do when faced with life’s inevitable difficulties.
Resiliency also refers to the ability to adapt to difficult situations that you cannot change. If your teenagers are resilient, they will learn something from a difficult situation.
A teenager’s resilience could go up and down, depending on the situation. Also, some teens are better at bouncing back from challenges than others. One way teens can build resiliency is to develop personal attitudes, such as self-compassion and self-respect.
They also need to hone their social skills and foster a habit of positive thinking. Your support is significant for your teen’s ability to build resilience. While you cannot prevent your child from facing problems or difficult situations, you can help them build resiliency, which is the key to overcoming these challenges.
All teenagers face everyday difficulties, such as an argument with friends, receiving a disappointing test result, etc. If your teens are resilient, they can bounce back from these situations and learn something from them.
Some teenagers face more serious challenges than others, such as bullying, divorce of parents, and death. Others have to deal with disability, illnesses, or other health issues. By being resilient, your teens can rise out of these challenges.
Discussing Self Harm
Self-harm refers to deliberately hurting oneself as a means to cope with pain or strong emotions, and it’s a sign of deep distress. Teenagers who self-harm are at high risk of committing suicide.
It is sometimes difficult to understand why your teens would purposely hurt themselves. As parents, you should be open to discussing self-harm with your teens because awareness is one way to prevent it.
There are many ways parents can help prevent their teens from harming themselves. By discussing it with them and making them feel that you support and care for them, you can provide the calm and steady support that your teens need to cope with pain. Before discussing self-harm with your teens, learn everything you can about it.
Know the most common reasons teens do it and what you should do to prevent it. Some teens do it due to peer pressure. And once they start, it can be difficult for them to stop.
It’s not easy to discuss painful topics like self-harm with your child. You may not know the right words to say but try to be sensitive to your teen’s feelings when discussing these things.
The best way to open the conversation is to share with them what you have learned about self-harm. Convey your concern to them and show your willingness to listen if they have problems.
Thinking About E-Safety
Keeping your teenagers safe in the real world is hard, but it’s even more challenging to protect them from the dangers of the cyberworld. But you should not just stand by and hope for the best – you have to take action to help your child safely navigate the Internet.
Consider learning about safeguarding online to learn about the top cyber threats for teens and how you can protect them.
Once you understand the different types of threats your teens could face when using the Internet, take the proper action to minimise their risks. When it comes to this, communication is the key.
Talk to your teens about the dangers of the cyberworld and discuss how they can steer clear of these. By starting a dialogue regarding e-safety with your teen, you are paving the way for them to open up to you in case they face threats online.
Next, set up the rules for Internet use. Let them know your expectations of their online behaviour and identify things that can help keep your teens protected.
List down the social networking apps and sites they need to avoid and advise them not to trust anyone they meet online. Tell them not to post personal information on social media sites, such as their complete name and address.
