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Don’t be too harsh on your teen, don’t compare: Experts counsel parents
PRAYAGRAJ Psychiatrists and police personnel will now not only counsel children but also advise their parents on how to deal with their wards tactfully.
PRAYAGRAJ Psychiatrists and police personnel will now not only counsel children but also advise their parents on how to deal with their wards tactfully.
The move has been prompted by the increasing number of incidents of children, especially teenagers, running away from home after being scolded by their parents over studies or other issues.
Most children rescued by police teams and NGOs revealed that they left home after their parents dealt with them too strictly, or beat them up over petty mistakes.
A police team under ASP Amit Kumar Anand recently launched a drive to reunite lost children with their parents. Anand said that when the children were handed over to their parents, they were asked to deal with them gently.
The ASP further said that when parents lodge a missing person’s complaint for their children they do not disclose that they reprimanded them. It is only after the missing children are traced and recovered that it comes to light that their parents handled them a little too strictly.
He said that help will also be taken from NGOs working with children to increase efforts in this direction and try and control incidents of children running away from homes, he added.
The city’s Colvin Hospital runs a mobile de-addiction centre especially targeted towards youngsters. It plans to hold sessions in schools to sensitise both children and their parents about behavioural patterns and how to handle them.
Colvin Hospital senior psychiatrist Rakesh Paswan said parents should be cautious while dealing with children. In today’s times, parents are unable to give enough time to their children, who spend most of their spare time using smart phones and watching television. With nuclear families on the rise, children are left on their own and have no one to share their problems with. In such a situation, they take extreme steps if they are admonished.
“Parents who visit us with complaints of unusual behaviour among children are also advised to deal with their children gently and tactfully. They are advised not to pressure children over studies, or to compare them with other children in their class, neighbourhood or family. Parents are also asked to give more time to their wards and encourage them to share their problems,” Dr Paswan said.
