Its important for parents to realize they aren’t alone in raising their children.
A child’s emotional and physical development is shapes by genetic and environmental factors alike. Genetic factors can affect a child’s ability to learn, play,manage emotions, and interact with people. But a child’s environment also plays a pivotal role in early development Think of all the people your child interacts with on a regular basis-such as siblings, relatives, and other caregivers like babysitters, teachers, and healthcare providers. They each play a key role in your child’s development. Likewise, social and economics factors-such as proper nutrition, housing, healthcare, and experiences at school and within the community-are constantly at work to shape your child’s development from a very early age. A child’s physical health also plays an important role in his or her mental health. Here are the basics every child needs for good mental health.
Nutritious food, adequate clothing, and a healthy living environment.
Plenty of sleep
Regular physical activity, including time to play with other children
Ongoing and unconditional love, praise, and affection
Encouraging teachers and supportive caregivers who provide appropriate guidance and discipline
Self confidence and high self-esteem
When children are surrounded by positive relationships, they in turn learn the value themselves and happily accept who they are; they learn to embrace what makes them unique; they develop a positive outlook on life; and they know they’re loved unconditionally. These are the building blocks of good self-esteem, which is important to develop early on in childhood because it’s essential to good health throughout life.
Navigating through adolescence
The transition from childhood to adulthood doesn’t happen overnight. First, a child must navigate the challenging stage of adolescence. For a teenager who has not yet gained the experience to cope with difficult situations and mounting expectations, adolescence can seem overwhelming at times. When stress and anxiety are not managed properly, they can build and manifest in ways that negatively impact on mental and physical health.
While it’s not unusual fot teens to feel irritable, sluggish, and sad for brief periods of time, if you notice any of the following signs lasting for a period of at least two weeks, your teen could be experiencing a minor depression.
Feeling down.
Lack of interest in activities.
Sleeping problems.
Poor concentration.
A recent study by Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric institute reported that teenagers with minor depression have a higher risk of mental health issues later in life. Rates of anxiety, severe depression, and eating disorders were far more common in 20-to 30-year-olds who’d experienced minor depression in adolescence.
If you suspect your teen is going through a rough spell, don’t ignore the issue. One in 10 parents thinks those with mental illness can just snap out of it if they want to. But that’s not the case at all. And, while you can’t force your teen to open up to you, there are some things you can do:
Monitor your teen’s level of stress. Record and share how it’s affecting his or her behaviour, thoughts, and feelings.
Watch for signs of stress overload.
Encourage your teen to talk-if not with you, then encourage him to open up to someone else he knows and trusts, or find a therapist he’s comfortable talking to.
There are also preventative measures that can help your teen learn to manage stress before it gets out of hand:
Encourage your teen to get active in group sports and social activities.
As a family, stay physically active and eat nutritious meals.
Help your teen become more assertive and develop good time-management skills both of which come with practice.
Encourage family members to speak positively about themselves and each other, and discourage negative reinforcement.
Teach your teen to feel good about adequate work versus always striving for perfection.
Encourage your teen to build a network of reliable and supportive friends,
Filed under Health by 
We normally do not think that health is related to economics other than with regard to the costs of medical care. But there is another more fundamental way money impacts our wellbeing. If you could not pay your bills or had to worry about where the next meal would come from, would you be thinking about health, or survival? When we are trying to stay alive moment-to-moment we don’t think about food choices, supplements, organic farming, animal welfare or environmental issues. Those considerations are a “luxury” dependent upon economic capability. But they are a luxury we must have if we are to live a reflective life and survive on planet Earth. Without a robust economy, you can pretty much forget about people being environmental, health conscious, or even civil to one another. In starving nations, war is endemic, disease rampant and the environment is only a raw material to be ravaged to hopefully live to the next day.
The emerging world economy will ultimately place great economic stress on the United States. It already has. Thousands of jobs are being lost to overseas companies employing workers requiring a fraction of the wages demanded here. People in America increasingly try to maintain a standard of living through debt. This is great for all the banks popping up on almost every street corner, but bad for the people. Just in the past year there have been almost two million personal bankruptcies declared.
To compete in the marketplace, companies must keep their costs down. If that means shifting manufacturing elsewhere, that’s what will be done. India, China and other Eastern rim countries are the beneficiaries of this shift in manufacturing and labor pool. While American workers are clamoring for things to return to the way they were with high wages and generous benefits, workers in developing countries are happy as can be having a job for five dollars a day.
This trend will not go away with “buy American” banners or political rhetoric about treaties, minimum wages and outsourcing. The global economy is here to stay and that will mean the American standard of living will retract and the developing world’s will improve. Expect a decline in the standard of living, falling wages and investment insecurity.
Government is not the solution, since it produces nothing but only takes. Government saps an economy, it does not create it. The more that government is hands off, the better the economic vitality. A robust private sector economy (environmentally responsible), on the other hand, is not the enemy as it is so often portrayed, but is critical to financial vitality. Capitalism is not in itself a demon since it merely provides the mechanism for prosperity and with that the opportunity for a society to focus on matters of health and altruism. It works well if ambition and hard work, not merely greed, are its tools.
The inevitable decline of our standard of living is an inevitable and irreversible trend for the foreseeable future. It should concern us not because we want to see American super abundance continue, but because those who are unaware and get caught as casualties in this economic downturn will suffer in so many ways. The world is no longer business as usual.
Good health is not just about diets, supplements, organic foods and aerobics. It’s also about being safe, like driving carefully, not standing on the top of a stepladder, wearing safety glasses when chipping stone…and working hard, keeping our financial house in order and supporting societal choices that do the same.
Life is not surety, and neither is our economy. Nevertheless, hard work and prudent management will never be replaced and is as close to security as we can ever get. It, not entitlements and guarantees, is what ultimately creates the financial footing we need for good health and a sustainable, better and more peaceful world.
Filed under Health by
