The development of a child’s psyche(thought processes, memory, emotional health, social health) depends a lot on the ‘NATURE’ as well as ‘NURTURE’ factors. The qualities of compassion, empathy, and kindness start developing as early as nine months of age and continue evolving till five years of age.
Hence, this age span is very important in a child’s life. The parent’s responsibility is doubled and becomes most challenging during this time period for the child. The primary caregivers or parents play a very important role in the development of strong, emotional, and social health in a child. There are many factors that decide the mental and social health of the child. The two main factors are SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS- The child’s psyche depends on various socio-economic factors like the economic status of the family, the level of income of the family, the standard of living, the education level of parents, the style of parenting adopted, etc. For eg., A child may develop emotions of insecurity and fear if his/her needs are sacrificed due to the lower income of the family. He may feel inadequate amongst his peers if he cannot upkeep with the standard of living as per his counterparts. This may lead to feelings of being uninvolved, resulting in lower self-esteem and feelings of loneliness, resentment, and frustration developing.
CULTURAL FACTORS- Many cultures impose restrictions on the child which may affect his/her mental growth and development. For example, many cultures don’t allow girls to go out for education, they are forced to wear particular types of attire not allowed to socialize, and even confined to homes, sometimes. Such children may not develop social skills, and communication skills, may suffer from low self-esteem and low confidence, get fearful of interaction with others, show stage fear, and may face many challenges in the future. Most cultures show gender inequality and this has a great impact on the social and emotional development, particularly of girls. Other than these factors, the education level of the parents, their affinity towards their culture and religion, their mindset, and their involvement in the child’s life play a very important role in the overall mental, social, and emotional health of the child. Today no school teaches a child to deal with his emotions and guard his emotional health. We, as parents and teachers, should take up the responsibility of developing physically, socially, emotionally, and mentally healthy and developed individuals. This can happen only if we be aware of the telltale signs that our child shows. Taking the right remedial action at the right time through the right approach will not only ensure a happy, close bonded family for the future but also guarantees the development and growth of the society and in turn, the development of the country. Take care of your and your childs emotional and social health. We will write about the mental disorders caused due to unhealthy development of social and emotional health in children in the next blog Thank you