Parents often
wonder what is wrong with a child who seems out of sorts a lot of time.
Here is a guide to what to look out for:
Babies and toddlers
They can not tell us if they are sad, so they express themselves
through their behavior and
- become unresponsive
- are clingy but can not accept comfort
- refuse to eat
- can not settle down to sleep.
Preschoolers might
- be tearful all the time
- stop eating
- wake up during the night
- have frequent nightmares and night terrors
- become very demanding and naughty
- bully, hit and bite other kids
- start telling lies
- behave destructively.
A
few children can put their sad feelings into words, like:'The world
does not feel right, mum.' Children quickly blame themselves if things
go wrong and think they are
worthless.
Then their behavior seems to
ask for
punishment - lying, stealing or playing truant from school.
Remember - a naughty, depressed child is not an innately bad child!
School-age children
If they are depressed they may:
- find it hard to concentrate and lose interest
in schoolwork and play
- become loners
- refuse to go to school
- complain of feeling bored all the time
- say they are lonely
- lose confidence
- become difficult to control
- become slovenly.
By
themselves children simply can not make sense of feeling depressed,
they feel helpless.
Depressed children need a caring adult to take a loving interest in them and show understanding. Loving, caring
attention is a very powerful medicine for every depressed child. Then
they can help them deal with their feelings over time.
Good
parents encourage their children to talk
about their worries from a
very early age, always listen and offer help. Children quickly feel
isolated, misunderstood and ignored if parents are preoccupied with
their own problems.
Use our online child depression test to scale depression in child and adolescent.
Related Pages in this site:
Nurture Your Child Not Your Ego
Parents
should never allow their egos to become wrapped up in their child. Many
parents measure their own value and success by their children's
successes and failures.
Do you have
your own
experience with
childhood depression? How could you recognize it? What treatments, ways
of healing have you tried? Which one was successful?
Let us know your
story... It would be extremely useful for other parents.
Real
life-experience is the best adviser!
Are you in
doubt your child
might be depressed? What could be a good treatment? Ask the
others...Other parents can help you... Help to be helped!
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