I Know What You Did Last Summer!

I recently overheard one young mother tell the other about the summer camp activities she had enrolled her 3.5 year old daughter in. ‘Thank god for the summer camp Trisha has been attending. What do they do whole day at home but watch TV or play with a smartphone?’ The other lady, who was strolling with her infant, seemed a tad mortified. ‘But where did we go to any such camps? Isn’t carefree playing also important? Won’t a two-month break from school actually help?’

I smiled to myself as I quickly darted across the street. Both mothers had a point which echoes in the mind of most parents. It is true. Summer vacations have assumed a different purpose and identity of its own! No longer is it synonymous with a complete break from school or idle pastime. It is almost the norm nowadays to enroll the child into a summer camp.  Even before the end of an academic year, announcements of various summer school activities have parents scurrying for the best choice. While for older children it would of course do good to heed to their preferences, how do you choose a good program for a pre-schooler? Or do you even opt for one?

Ideally, summer vacations must be best used for experiences that a child wouldn’t perhaps be accustomed to. A vacation, trips to the museum, spending time with other children or relatives, having idle fun, browsing through books, traveling in public transport, doing any activity of interest or plain lazing around. However, with increasing work pressure and enhancing lifestyles parents aren’t able to spend that quality time to direct their child’s interests or help in diffusing their energy. 

Children, especially younger ones, come with very short attention spans. They move on from one activity to the other in the blink of an eye.  Unfortunately, the only thing which perhaps keeps their attention while also (over)stimulating their minds and are readily available these days are tech gadgets. The iPhone/iPad or it is the television. This is perhaps the saddest outcome of the technology obsessed generation. The only cows or goats or horses we interact with are the ones played on Farmville on FB! Everything is digital. Unfortunately, the learning in only this form of media is extremely limited and sometimes even damaging.  Numerous research studies have proved it. 

I am not totally against using digital media and it has its benefits in learning when used judiciously and in a relevant manner, but learning through hands on experience is irreplaceable. When it comes to socialising with people or getting dirty to understand how a plant grows from a seed or playing with the flour to make dough or watching water metamorphose through its three stages. It is here that well-thought, developmentally appropriate and fun programmes come into the picture. 

I also cannot stress enough that even when selecting summer camps, it is imperative to take into account not just the child’s interests but also if the program is developmentally appropriate for the child. Having fun is absolutely essential but hygiene, safety and a good, researched framework against which such activities are designed are critical. 

Of course, it cannot be denied that there is no substitute for parental attention and involvement. That must be the number one priority. Skip the camp but get ready to get down on your knees, be a child and rediscover the world with your child again, and not just this summer!

When Preserving Sanity becomes a Privilege!

Last week, a professor of a Ghatkopar college shot himself dead on the campus. While the reasons haven’t been clearly stated, reports mentioning him to be withdrawn, aloof, not participating in any extra-curricular activities/events paint a melancholic personality; perhaps suffering from a depressive disorder. It is also notable that none of the students or faculty members sensed anything was amiss the day he took his life.

Mental health disorders are a silent killer. And especially in the teaching profession, such cases are on a rapid rise with stressful working conditions, poor paying scales, almost nil personal time and nonstop responsibilities especially with the corporatisation of the education sector. Ironically enough, the nature of job is also as such that teachers can’t afford to get depressed!

Students look up to teachers and respect a calm and confident exterior. Teachers are the primary guardians of the children at school with the most important role of shaping young minds. Their temperament needs to be humane, patient, encouraging. Each period or session needs to be delivered spot on since that it might be the only time the topic will be dealt in so much detail. If you are a preschool teacher, there is the added stress of looking out for communicating and relating to 20-25 odd children, each of whose communication skills and means vary! To add to this, there isn’t any fixed bracket of symptoms to ascertain if one is suffering from depression.

Depressive disorders come in different forms and are manifested differently. The 3 most common types are major depressions, dysthymia and bipolar disorder. Major depression is manifested by a combination of symptoms that interfere with the ability to work, study, sleep, eat and enjoy pleasurable activities once pursued. Not everyone depressed experiences every symptom. The severity of symptoms varies from person to person and also over time. Hence, spotting depression isn’t an easy task as spotting a fever or a cold or a headache! There are trained doctors and specialist counsellors who can spot one. And yet in India, we hardly acknowledge the need to visit a psychologist or psychiatrist, partly due to social stigma of being seen as ‘mad’.

Depression can also affect children. In such a situation, a child may pretend to be sick, refuse to go to school, cling to a parent, or worry that the parent may die. Older children may sulk, get into trouble at school, be negative, grouchy, and feel misunderstood. Because normal behaviours vary from one childhood stage to another, it can be difficult to tell whether a child is just going through a temporary "phase" or is suffering from depression. If there has been a marked change in behaviour and physical ailments have been ruled out, it would do good to get the child evaluated by a mental health professional.

A training session on Narrative therapy at Ummeed

As in the case of physical ailments, it is critical to catch a mental ailment early on since a simple depression can turn into a major one, later on in life. Schools must mandatorily check the mental health of teacher/staff regularly as we do for any health certificate. We must work actively not only to promote mental health awareness programmes, but it is the need of the hour for each school to appoint an in-house certified mental health professional or counsellor for students and teachers in each school. One of the ways to work on depression is to 'externalize' the problem, a technique used in narrative therapy which has often been associated with good humour & playfulness as well as careful & thoughtful practice. It is best summarised as 'The Person is not the problem but the problem is the problem'.

I have had the privilege of attending the one-of-its-kind ‘Mental Health Training Programme’, at Ummeed Child Development centre which is doing commendable work to train professionals from all fields of society like teachers, heads of institutions, professionals dealing with children, adults, doctors, developmental paediatricians, social workers. It’s a speck in the ocean but at least a START somewhere… Preserving sanity isn’t a privilege but is a necessity!