Nowadays, we as parents don’t have time for our children because we are busy in other places. Many of us are working and our job keeps us occupied. A child may seem naive and dumb, and whatever comes out of their mouth may seem unimportant, but that is not the case. I am sure you don’t think that way. But as a parent, if anyone thinks in such a way they need to work on their parenting skills.
A child is pure, and so whatever happens to them, they want to share it with their parents. They expect safety from their parents. But many times we end up ignoring their needs. A depressed child can be detectable for there are many different changes that are visible in his or her behavior, and there are limits as to how much a child can take so the symptoms of depression must be identified quickly.
Depression is a mental health condition that negatively affects your life by filling your head with negative thoughts, making you eventually act negatively. There can be many different reasons for depression, such as the loss of a loved one, a trauma of your childhood, rape, abuse, or violence. Depression shows itself in many different ways and is recognizable if seen through a keen and caring eye. Some of the reasons it is evident that your child has depression are as follows,
They lose interest in everything
When a child is depressed, they lose interest in everything. For example, your child may be interested in football, but over time he or she has lost interest in it. They may talk about something with passion and ambition in their eyes, but that is lost with time too. A child may get into drugs and consume different products such as cannabis edibles to relax their mind, which needs to be stopped.
The spark in them dies, and they want to be left alone. They either settle for something less or keep on ignoring talking or doing what they used to do before. If a child is fat, and someone bullies him/her for being overweight, they may stop eating at all. This is not suitable for their mental and physical health.
Isolation
A kid that is depressed will isolate themselves and will tend to stay away from everyone. There can be different ways in which they do it. For example, they can stop coming to dinner or lunch, they can stop going to birthday parties, they can stop going to weddings, and they may stop or have anxiety if they are asked to order food. Isolation is one of the biggest red flags that you can notice in your child. This may indicate that your child is suffering from something that he or she is keeping to themselves and not sharing.
They cut connections
A child may have many different relationships. They can have friends, siblings, people they play football with, people they would like to hang out with after school, or just family. With depression getting more potent, they start to cut connections by ignoring what they love and what they love to do with them.
A depressed child stops being vocal about their issues, and stops meeting people, stops talking to people. They would rather be alone than being in a crowd that makes them uncomfortable.
Sleeping problems
It is necessary for a growing-up child to sleep properly so that they can function the next day properly. A depressed child has sleeping issues where they either have a problem going to sleep or staying asleep. A disturbed sleeping pattern means they will be cranky the next day. They will have difficulties concentrating the next day and most of all they will become slow.
Sleeping problems can be visible from their behavior as a change in the sleeping pattern will be very visible. So, even when they are not vocal about it, you can know that something is not right.
Always tired or stressed
One of the best things about a child is that they are active and ambitious with a pure heart. But a depressed child is none of these things. A sad child is stressed where they are worried about every little thing that is happening in their life, and this causes them to be tired.
They are either too sleepy or not sleepy at all. A depressed child can be worried about their studies or something that is happening to them in school that is causing distress in their life.
Loss of appetite
Whatever a child consumes has a significant impact on how they grow up and how they feel. A depressed child can either be too hungry or not hungry at all. Both of these situations are not good for the child and can cause an eating disorder.
If a child overeats, they can get obese that can be a threat to their physical and mental health. If your child used to eat regularly, but now he does not, then that is a problem. This is especially true if they really enjoyed some of their favorite foods like French fries, and now they don’t. That is a red flag and must be taken seriously by parents.
They become suicidal
Depression has many different symptoms that are dangerous, amongst which one is suicidal thoughts. When a child goes through depression, many different things are going through their mind. Many times it so happens that they don’t find an escape to whatever they are going through in their life.
For example, your child can be bullied or can be being blackmailed for some silly reason that may look like a huge issue to them. Suicidal thoughts are a huge red flag and you must never take such indications lightly. There will be hopelessness and unsure thoughts that your child will talk about in hints or indirectly.
You can deal with depression with love and care, but it requires patience. Patience is something that parents of today lack. Many parents do not understand what their child is going through and will act out in a negative way. This can cause feelings of distress and anxiousness to increase with time. If your child is suffering from depression, be a friend to them rather than being any other individual that is just here to criticize them.
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