Is education leading our children into depression? Illuminations
Permanent refusal to study and write homework, sitting for hours to finish homework, constantly comparing the child with peers, these and other problems are examples of the many problems that mothers talk about at the time of study, especially during the exam season, which begins with crying and cramping to get to the point depression.
Remember the first time your son had a tantrum, threw himself on the ground and collapsed crying, rebelling against your authority and control. Those scars are in our children’s hearts for life.
experiences of mothers
Many mothers can notice these signs in their children, but they don’t know what caused this trouble that affected their children, and understanding the cause can be the first step in treatment, commented “Noha Essam” (caretaker) in her interview with “Iluminacija” :
The biggest pain my son went through was in the fourth and fifth grade of elementary school. It’s enough for him to be pulled out of his bag and enough from seven in the morning to four in the afternoon to go to school and go back to finish private lessons.. This is the real trouble of our children. .
And Rania Shawky (caretaker) added, in statements for “Illuminations”:
Fourth year was a disaster for plans and programs. My daughter did not stop crying, her mental state was very bad, they were forbidden to go out. Classes had to be cut in half, and there were no useful subjects such as the performance of Assignments.. We lost a whole week on those subjects.
Causes of trouble
The words of these mothers did not differ much from the opinion of older psychiatrists in Egypt, Dr. Ihab Eid, professor of psychiatry and child behavior, fully agreed with her. “Trauma” (psychological trauma), which is the most difficult stage of depression if not treated.
dr. Ehab explained that the educational situation may not be suitable for many children and is not suitable for their preferences and abilities. The child is placed in an educational place and an educational level that is not suitable for his abilities, and the direction of the child’s abilities differs from the place where he is educated. For example, his learning abilities are one page of a book. While the teacher teaches him five pages, in a very monotonous way in which there is no creativity in teaching. child, all this kills the child and his skills at an early age.
“Loss of appetite, nail biting, stuttering, loss of concentration and other symptoms for which parents do not know the real cause, but over time we realize that this is a consequence of the great pressure to which the child was exposed during the learning process, and then he enters the phase of depression,” he said. is Dr. Ehab, an expert in psychiatry.
He pointed out that there are many examples in his clinic who suffer from these symptoms, including a 9-year-old child who suffered from depression for a while, preferred to be in isolation and avoided playing with his peers, and often reached for cell phones to escape from studying.
Individual differences
Consultant child psychiatrist, Dr. Ihab Eid, also explained to us in his statements that various individual differences between children despite the same age are the main reason why education becomes a psychological crisis for a child, because not every child is mature enough except for different levels of intelligence. Among children, at the same time, all children must reach a moral and academic ceiling, some of which may not be able to.
The consulting psychiatrist added: It is possible that the child is smart, but has not reached the level of maturity that equips him to perform his duties, which brings him to the stage of trouble. What makes the matter worse is the constant comparison of the child with his peers and the issuing of prejudices about him unconsciously, either by the parents or the bearer of the educational process.
Adapting to the conditions of an immature child forces the mother to shorten his academic degree and school year and vice versa. The child may have absorptive abilities greater than his age, so I say to the holders of the educational process: give us the opportunity to place the children in the appropriate educational phase in kindergarten stages, and it must be. The evaluation of the child is real and based on correct scientific foundations, not as it happens now. The inevitable result of the learning method and its incompatibility with tendencies is trouble in education.
dr. Eman El-Gohary, consultant psychiatrist, in statements for “Illuminations” explains that a child feels his worth according to grades, and this is the worst pattern in education, because it makes the child more vulnerable to depression. And he adds: When parents feel a change in their child’s behavior, they must completely exclude the method of punishment and fill it with a sense of security and calmness, and always talk to him about his obligations and rights.
personality building
dr. Buthaina Abdel Raouf, an education expert, says in statements to “Illuminations” that there is a close connection between depression in children and education because of the intense pressure on children, especially during exams. His skills are an inevitable consequence of depression or the acquisition of negative behaviors.
There is no substitute for cognitive and behavioral balance in child rearing. Buthaina Abdel Raouf, an education expert, explained that building personality is inseparable from building the cognitive aspect of every child, and what Egyptian families do is in no way part of the foundations of building personality. Focusing on the cognitive aspects of acquiring academic degrees without developing other aspects skill does not build normal personalities.
She emphasized that the end result of such curricula is the production of generations suffering from negativity that do not build or provide anything for their societies, along with the production of other types of personality, such as a violent personality that suffered pressures and repression. through her life.
She also emphasized the need to educate the family that the cognitive aspect is the degree of personality building, which is necessary, but there are other aspects that must be developed in the child. It is not only through education that the child succeeds and can face his problems in the future, but attention must be paid to involving the child in activities and skills and developing his talents and giving him an outlet to find his strengths.
Form of education
dr. Thoraya Abdel-Gawad, professor of sociology at Menoufia University, indicated in statements to “Illuminations” that the social and economic diversity of each social segment must be taken into account when talking about the distress of children, but there is one factor common to all families, which is is the education system.
dr. Thuraya pointed out that some forms of education created unhappiness among children because it lost its basic role, so its level gradually declined, and despite the fact that some able-bodied parents resorted to private lessons, it is not possible to replace the pioneering role of the school in the formation of a child, because the school is a complete community in which the child communicates and is exposed. Different types of people make him stronger in dealing with his psychological crises, adds the professor of sociology.
dr. Thuraya says that the preparation of the educational process for the development of gifted and mentally normal children must begin with new curricula, educational media and reward methods, and for educational institutions to be attractive to children through music, sports, theater, skill acquisition and programs that nurture true talents for children.
The role of the family
dr. Muhammad Abdullah, who has a doctorate in media and children and is the creator of digital content on his channel “Not a Children’s Play”, believes that the biggest role in the problem of depression or distress of a child comes from his small community, which is the family.
And Dr. Muhammad Abdullah explained, in statements to “Illuminations”:
The problem often comes from the family dealing with the child’s educational crisis. When his academic level declines and his grades drop, the family is upset and uses the comparison method. Also, parents always betray the idea of hoarding and difficult curricula, even though there are children as young as five who learn the entire Qur’an by heart, because mental preparation for a child is important and the family is the biggest factor here.
“In addition, providing a healthy home based on respect, away from arguments, will have a positive effect. The father and mother must keep the child and mentally prepare him in the preschool age and convince him of the importance of following rules and instructions, whether it is about eating, sleeping and exercise, these are all preliminary steps that help the child’s acceptance into the school system,” according to what Dr. Muhammad Abdullah confirmed.
Treatment of anxiety
dr. Muhammad Abdullah, a digital content creator specializing in child education, stated that a child should not be pressured and forced to stop playing in order to learn, because play is as necessary for a child as education, so there must be a process to organize the child’s time, take the child’s opinion in many ways, even if it is not important, a kind of psychological treatment of the child, in addition to the individual outings of the child, when the father or mother accompanies the child for a walk in the open air alone, away from family members, to take him as a friend, one of the best treatments for situations in troubles.
A system of projection and indirect advice is one of the best ways to solve a child’s problem. For example, a bedtime story or telling stories that contain direct meanings related to the child’s problem are among the best treatments. Because the child is often very smart, and that absorbs more than direct advice.
