Depression in Children

After a few days of feeling on top of the world my fifteen-year-old daughter seems to be down in the dumps today. Her first day on the job was very positive, so I was puzzled as to why she was feeling so blue. I was especially concerned because she was eating very little and seemed to be avoiding any contact with the family. I kept trying to find out what was bothering her but she refused to talk about it. I told her I couldn't help her if she didn't open up but she kept insisting that nothing was wrong. Well what can you do? As a parent it is sometimes very frustrating when our children refuse to talk about their problems. You sense that something is not quite right but you can't twist their arm to divulge.

Let your children know that they will always have a safe place to fall and no matter what happens you will always love them. Make sure they know that your door is always open if they want to discuss anything with you. My daughter knows she can come to me and I will support her but once again I cannot make her share if she doesn't want to. The best we can do as parents sometimes is try and be patient when it comes to our children, teenagers especially can be quite moody and most of the time it is just part of puberty. On the other hand if your teen seems to be down for more than a few days and refuses to talk about it, it may be time to get professional advice before it becomes full blown depression.

Happy Parenting

Monicka