2 Children’s Mental Health Week
Yesterday marked the beginning of Children’s Mental Health Week. For many adults, especially of more senior years, talk of children’s mental health is a fairly new concept. No one talked about it when we were young. Yet how many lives might have been better if it had been? Mental health issues can range from bullying (who said, ‘sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never harm me.’?), to the impact of conflict in the home, pressure to excel at everything, lack of confidence, loneliness etc. They hurt children when they are young, and they can affect them all their lives. The pandemic, with its impact on schooling and on social mixing has had an impact on the mental health of everyone, including children; but some will be more affected by it than others. One of the first steps to responding to it is to recognise that it exists. Further information can be found on the website https://www.childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk/
Lord, there is still something of a stigma attached to mental health issues, of admitting to struggling with stress, bullying, coping with conflict, or living up to other people’s expectations. It is hard for adults, it is hard for children, who are still learning about what you can and can’t say, and how you express your feelings. Help us to acknowledge our own challenges, and the challenges that other people are facing. Help us to be good listeners. Help us not to point the finger or dismiss other people’s concerns. Help us to help others through their hard times
PS Burns actually crossed the Border for the first time on 7 May, ‘just to see what it felt like’, going as far as Cornhill-on-Tweed. However on 27 May he travelled on horseback with two friends from Coldstream to Alnwick
