A Harsh Reality - Kids and Mental Wellness

 

(This is a harsh post, but one that's been weighing on my heart lately.)

Believe it or not, public schools are gearing up to start in a few weeks, at least in Texas. So David and I have been talking about this topic and there are some things that just grieve my heart, when it comes to kids these days.

The first being that the kids barely get a summer break anymore. When we were kids, the summer break consisted of 3 solid months of downtime. June, July and August were the summer months and school didn't start until after Labor Day. 

I know this is an age-old topic, but it's one to seriously consider as a fail, when you look at the state of kids and parents these days.

Never before, has "mental wellness" been such a hot topic. You hear of it everyday on every platform. But does it ever occur to anyone to ask why so many are focused on mental wellness? Kids and adults, alike, are running themselves ragged every single day!

It's such a way of life now, to have kids busy every moment and parents who work non-stop. 

When we were in school, we had time to breathe and just be kids. We went to school, came home, had time to do homework, play outside, eat dinner with the family and get a good night's sleep.

Kids these days have no chance of downtime. And frankly, neither do the parents. 

It's almost as if the status of the parents depends solely on how busy the kids are or how successful the kids are at extra-curricular activities. 

Kids don't know how to handle boredom anymore. They require constant stimulation and constant entertainment. And quite frankly, the parents don't know what to do with a bored child!

So the alternative is to keep kids entertained and busy at every moment, so no one has to be inconvenienced with a whiny child or parental involvement beyond just driving to the next event. 

I recently learned that our small town is going to have a 4 day school week this year. Which would sound nice, if it meant kids would get an extra day at home. But the reality is, if you're a working parent, is your workweek going to be 4 days also? Most likely it won't, which means you will now be forced to hire someone to look after your child or put your child in a daycare situation for that extra day. How is this helping? It's just one more situation that isn't best for the child!

I can't help but look around and notice that nothing points to the good of the family anymore. Even in church, families are constantly expected to do more, be involved more, give more, serve more, and yet, even Christian families are falling apart. 

When will we get off the crazy train?

The fragmentation of families should be a wake-up call, but it seems like no one is paying attention. 

And we wonder why mental wellness has become more important than anything? Because people are destroying their own lives, day by day, and desperately trying to help themselves, but it will never work until they slow down and seek a slower pace - for themselves and their poor children.

If you want to save the children, you first have to recognize your own part in destroying them. 

Only then can we truly restore the family and mental wellness. 

Until Next Time...

Blessings!