Content Writer: Krithika P V Content Editor: Armani Moore Blog Designer: Elsa Aziz “What do you mean you’re not feeling emotionally well?” the mother questioned her child. “You are barely 13! Who taught you such a thing? You’re too little to feel anything of that sort!” she yelled as she ignored her child’s plea to stay home from school. Little did she know she was suppressing her kid’s emotional side, unaware of what that would do to him in the long run. Childhood. A joyous period of one’s life. No stress, no worries, no pressure of work. The greatest worries we had at that age was breaking a toy or hurting our knees, and we know how trivial they sound once we’ve grown up. Wait, did I just generalize everyone’s childhood as joyous? Yes. Was I being stereotypical? Yes. But, isn’t that something all of us have been and continue doing? Yes again. Childhood emotional neglect, as the name suggests, refers to the condition where a child’s emotional self is neglected or suppressed due to a lack of good parenting. Children who’ve been restricted from expressing themselves freely may develop serious mental issues that can also carry into adulthood as well. Let us analyze the causes of childhood emotional neglect: 1. It can occur when the parents themselves might’ve been suppressed emotionally during their childhood that has carried on into their parenthood. Therefore, in their parenting, they would have developed an inability to understand and cope with their child’s feelings. 2. It can also occur when parents are facing depression or other mental health disorders that decrease their time and interaction with their children. 3. Parents who are too busy with work, either from poverty or just casually busy work days, don’t tend to have the time to spend with their children. These children, either alone or often under the care of a nanny, can face emotional neglect too. 4. Some parents, due to personal issues, might have bare resentment towards their child. This may also result in emotional neglect as well as serious issues such as abuse and harassment. 5. Some parents, even after providing their child with the best of love and care, can neglect their child’s emotions. This might not be intentional but happens due to a lack of good parenting skills. Whatever be the cause of the issue, the effect on the child is inevitable and can persist in their adulthood too. Below are the effects emotional neglect can have on a child: 1. They can develop depression and anxiety due to lack of emotional care. 2. They might end up making wrong choices in life and becoming a victim of substance abuse. 3. They might develop extremely low self- esteem which may stand as a barrier in their path of success. 4. After growing up, they can carry on these effects of emotional neglect and do the same to their offspring by neglecting their emotions. 5. They might lack intimacy and become aggressive due to their inability to healthily express emotions. After analysing both causes and effects of this condition, we can now look at ways to prevent and/or treat it. One of the most obvious yet important solutions to every condition related to mental health is therapy. If you detect this condition in anyone, try to convince them to seek help. Mental health officials can help them recover in the best possible manner. One of the most obvious yet important solutions to every condition related to mental health is therapy. If you detect this condition in anyone, try to convince them to seek help. Mental health officials can help them recover in the best possible manner. Secondly, create a safe and accepting space around them. Make sure their parents and the others in the house understand their condition and that they feel loved and welcomed to freely express themselves. Stand with them in their worst phases of the condition because sometimes, a promise that someone is there with them and is supporting them is all a person needs. The next solution is for the parents. The parents of the affected kid must take parenting classes in order to be able to take care for their child and help them recover. These classes can expand their knowledge on their child’s condition and provide them with ways to manage it. Having had an overview of causes, effects, and the solutions to the condition of childhood emotional neglect, we can conclude that this condition is a very common yet easily ignored one. It is often ignored simply because it does not have definitive symptoms and is not visible to the naked eye. But it exists, and it is necessary that we understand the seriousness of this issue and help all those who are affected by it. It’s about time we understand that today’s children are faster in having matured mindsets due to the exposure they receive at a very young age. Parenting is a tedious task with the children of Gen-Z. Therefore, children today need utmost care physically as well as mentally. References: https://www.healthline.com/health/mental-health/childhood-emotional-neglect https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mindful-anger/202001/9-signs-childhood-emotional-neglect-and-3-ways-heal
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