"I will tell those children to play with you."

What does it mean when we say we want to EMPOWER our children to cope with mental health issues?

Anjali who was moderating the panel asked me during "Can you Hear me?" - an event organised by Beyond the Box(@btb_diaries) and Anupama Dalmia(@anupama_dalmia) to increase awareness about mental health issues in children yesterday.

In my opinion it means

Building the RESILIENCE children require to feel their emotions - sadness, anger, fear and so on

And helping them to RESPOND instead of REACTING to them

Where do we go wrong?

1. We trivialise their emotions with -

"There is no need to feel so sad about this."

2. We try to change the world for our children - 

"I will tell those children to play with you."

Both actions are disempowering and can lead to children thinking 

1. That they are 'weird' for feeling what they feel.

2. And 'victims' if the world does not change to make them feel better.

This was such a great panel and it was my privilege to join Riddhi Doshi @RiddhiDoshiP and Anupriya Gupta @Anupriya_Guptaa - esteemed panelists - who made the discussion enlightening and exciting with their knowledge and experience.

Do watch the LIVE on the Beyond the Box page.

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