Mental Health: the necessity for children and parents to get in touch with their feelings

Opinion Analysis by Maria Wehbe, Staff Writer

September 6th, 2020

Mental Health: two simple words that hold such a deep meaning. With the unprecedented times that all of us are going through for the time being, one of the first things that each and every one of us should be thinking about and working on is our mental health.  

In particular, one cannot forget that children are in need of this just as much, if not more. One should be extremely careful when it comes to helping children deal with their emotions. Mental Health Awareness and taking care of one’s mental health is NOT and should never even be considered a taboo. You may wonder why is it that our society disregards this as an issue, and the reason is quite simple. 

Our parents have grown up in an era whereby all they ever did was be worried, scared and feared for their lives, they have lived through the worst war ever witnessed in Lebanese history: The Civil War. This is a societal issue that has to be resolved, because our parents were never able to fully heal and so this has caused an aching that will be forever held in their hearts. 

With this having been said, in no possible way can we blame parents for dealing with their children the way they do today, because they want what’s best for them and never want them to feel what they once and will always feel.

When the explosion hit the center of Beirut on August 4th, 2020, it was some sort of a revival of the events that had happened during the civil war, only even worse: it was the third worst explosion that had ever occurred in history. Parents were scared and frightened, they did not want their children to worry and so many of them made sure that their children would interpret what happened in their own way, even if it meant something completely different. 

Parents are not to be blamed for wanting what’s best for their children and for making them live their best life, but at the same time, it is important that parents let their children express their emotions and let them feel grief, pain and anger at some times as well. 

Therefore, many goals are to be established by parents in order for their children to adapt them as well, in order to properly take care of themselves as well as dealing with grief, pain or any sort of emotion in the proper way. 

First and foremost, normalizing crisis responses is the first step on the way to properly take care of your mental health. When done, you will know that it is completely normal to feel and to give in to your emotions because at the end of the day, you are human and that is what is supposed to happen. As well, it is important to recognize and accept the feelings that children are having: the feelings that they are having are part of the crisis that they are facing, and so, accepting them will facilitate the path to recovery. With that having been said, developing proper coping skills that may differ from one person to the next is a must in order to know how to properly deal with your emotions and how to take control of them, because sometimes, it is not within your control and things might get out of hand. 

Since the horrific tragedy that occurred on August 4th, many professionals are providing their services for free to those that are in need, to those that have been severely affected by this explosion. It is important to recognize that children do have feelings and sometimes do not know how to deal with them, and so, seeking professional help should not be something to be ashamed of. Parents might want to keep their children outside of the realm of reality, because they do not want them to experience what they unfortunately had to, yet it is not healthy to ignore one’s emotions and feelings and suppress them instead. Mental Health is so important, and it is necessary to properly care of it. So, not only should children get in touch with their emotions, but parents as well. They deserve to properly heal and to not be judged for seeking help because they cannot get over what has happened in their past: it was something beyond their control. 

Parents and adults in general should orient themselves more about counseling and therapy, because it is only then that they will know how efficient and useful it really is. No one should ever feel ashamed to seek help from others, because not everything can be handled and properly taken care of by oneself. After all, we are human and we live in a community, and why should we not be able to work together and with others in order to build a better future for ourselves, for children and for the leaders of tomorrow? 

Mental Health is a priority and should always remain one, no matter what.