What are the signs and causes of emotional neglect in kids?
Emotional neglect in kids can have a significant negative impact. It can make your children feel unloved, uncared for, and unwanted.
What’s more troubling about emotional neglect in kids is the fact that sometimes, parents don’t easily notice the signs that this is happening. Mums and dads, here are some signs to look out for in your child:
- Uncertainty about what they are capable of
- Lack of self-confidence
- Lack of compassion for themselves, but plenty of compassion for others
- Feeling flawed
- Difficulty feeling and expressing emotions
Emotional neglect can make your child feel that their feelings don’t matter. As they grow older, they will start bottling up their emotions, and grow up with feelings of negativity in their hearts.
One of the major causes of emotional neglect is that parents may not have enough time to spend with their kids. Oftentimes, they may also forget that they are dealing with a child who looks at things differently compared to adults.
What can parents do to make sure their kids aren’t neglected?
Here’s a list of what you can do as a parent to make sure that your kids don’t suffer from emotional neglect:
1. Let your child know that you love them
Parents express their love for their child in different ways. No matter how you express your love, the most important thing is to make sure that your child knows and acknowledges your love for them.
2. Acknowledge their feelings
If your child feels sad, frustrated, or angry, don’t just brush it off and tell them that everything will be okay. Instead, it would be best if you acknowledged those feelings. Let them know that it’s okay to feel those emotions, since it happens to everyone. Make it a point to validate how they feel, but make sure that you talk to them to help them overcome those negative feelings and emotions.
3. Make them feel confident
Confidence helps your child feel more emotionally stable and makes them less prone to feeling that they’re not capable of doing things themselves.
4. Teach them to love themselves
Parents should teach their children to love themselves for who they are and to not let anyone else make them feel otherwise. Let them know what they are capable of, and they will be better for it.
5. Teach them compassion
Being compassionate helps your child feel for other people. This in turn, will help them become more in touch with their emotions and can make them feel better about themselves.
6. Spend more time with your children
Nothing beats the quality time that parents spend with their kids. You don’t have to do anything special, just talk to your children, tell them stories, share your experiences, and make them feel that you genuinely want to be with them and that you want to spend time with them.
7. Eat together as a family
Whenever families eat together, it’s a time for them to talk to each other, share their feelings, and what happened in their day. So always make it a point to eat together as a family. Use your time together to bond and to become one as a family.
Sources: blogs.psychcentral.com, Psychology Today
READ: 5 Tips for raising smart and emotionally stable kids