Your Mental Health

[jimmym]

My buddy does a bit of meditating, He says it beats sitting around doing nothing,

 

[Hallbopping]

My buddy does a bit of meditating, He says it beats sitting around doing nothing,

Hmmmm

 

[Cormac]

I was chatting to an old friend recently who was expressing concerns over her levels of anxiety. Meanwhile over the course of the evening she was constantly checking social media, expressing to us how upsetting viewing all the stuff in Gaza was and how jealous she was of one of her friends who was in Italy and so on.

When I suggested that maybe her constant viewing of social media and war zone images and FOMO inducing updates from her friend might in some way be a contributory factor in her anxiety levels she scoffed at the notion.

We really are clueless to the harm these little devices are doing to us.

As a dad to two smallies, I'll be keeping them away from it for as long as possible.

 

[JimmyBarrySmurph]

I was chatting to an old friend recently who was expressing concerns over her levels of anxiety. Meanwhile over the course of the evening she was constantly checking social media, expressing to us how upsetting viewing all the stuff in Gaza was and how jealous she was of one of her friends who was in Italy and so on.

When I suggested that maybe her constant viewing of social media and war zone images and FOMO inducing updates from her friend might in some way be a contributory factor in her anxiety levels she scoffed at the notion.

We really are clueless to the harm these little devices are doing to us.

As a dad to two smallies, I'll be keeping them away from it for as long as possible.

Spot on.. Id a similar conversation with my virtue signaling sister with her Ukraine and Palestinian flag up on social media and reposting about dogs going missing in North Cork or West Waterford!! People don’t realise what they are doing to themselves.

 

[Happyhonkaman]

You're all forgetting the fact that for children unsupervised play outdoors is largely a thing of the past because we have given over our public spaces to cars.

When I was a child if I was going to an activity I'd make my own way there if it was within a walkable distance.

Somewhat - yours is very young so playing on the road or going to the park are not possible. Mine have always gone out to play on the road supervised for a few years and then on their own once they were older, we live in a quiet cul de sac with a green though which made that possible. Having said that they have been walking to school unsupervised since they are about 6 and cycling since maybe 9. We obviously did the walks and cycles with them for a while to show them how to be safe etc. and kept them on footpaths at times initially. Now they both cycle to friends houses, some training sessions and head off to the park at the weekends to watch other teams play etc with their friends. That involves cycling on busy roads, crossings etc but they have spent countless hours on the bikes with us so they know what to do. I've always told them that if it feels unsafe cycle on the footpath and just ignore anyone who wants to give out.

You have to give them some freedom and the ability to navigate the world, otherwise you are raising a child that will struggle with independence or making a choice. I was recently talking to the eldest about him going to the US on a J1 living with a bunch of people somewhere in 6 years time. It doesn't seem that far off and it would frighten the life out of me, but kids have to progress and learn, and our over protective anxiety is not going to help that

 

[Nollaig O Muracu]

Good video.

 

[Blue Jasmin]

Somewhat - yours is very young so playing on the road or going to the park are not possible. Mine have always gone out to play on the road supervised for a few years and then on their own once they were older, we live in a quiet cul de sac with a green though which made that possible. Having said that they have been walking to school unsupervised since they are about 6 and cycling since maybe 9. We obviously did the walks and cycles with them for a while to show them how to be safe etc. and kept them on footpaths at times initially. Now they both cycle to friends houses, some training sessions and head off to the park at the weekends to watch other teams play etc with their friends. That involves cycling on busy roads, crossings etc but they have spent countless hours on the bikes with us so they know what to do. I've always told them that if it feels unsafe cycle on the footpath and just ignore anyone who wants to give out.

You have to give them some freedom and the ability to navigate the world, otherwise you are raising a child that will struggle with independence or making a choice. I was recently talking to the eldest about him going to the US on a J1 living with a bunch of people somewhere in 6 years time. It doesn't seem that far off and it would frighten the life out of me, but kids have to progress and learn, and our over protective anxiety is not going to help that

That makes sense but between motorists scrolling on their phones while driving, cars parked on footpaths and local green spaces littered with dog poo I feel the suburban environment is simply not child friendly.

 

[Happyhonkaman]

That makes sense but between motorists scrolling on their phones while driving, cars parked on footpaths and local green spaces littered with dog poo I feel the suburban environment is simply not child friendly.

I see all of those things as well but you can’t let that be reason to wrap your child in cotton wool! I absolutely want no harm to come to mine, but sitting indoors watching screens vs getting outside and doing things is a fundamental one in my mind

In the end they have to get on with life like we did, just a different set of circumstances

 

[MerchantOfEnnis]

My buddy does a bit of meditating, He says it beats sitting around doing nothing,

I do it every day, its nearly something that should be on school curriculums. It's important to look after your mind

 

[Blue Jasmin]

I see all of those things as well but you can’t let that be reason to wrap your child in cotton wool! I absolutely want no harm to come to mine, but sitting indoors watching screens vs getting outside and doing things is a fundamental one in my mind

In the end they have to get on with life like we did, just a different set of circumstances

My fella gets to spend loads of time doing outdoorsy stuff with me thankfully, one of the things we do is to try and identify local tree types, he helps with gardening too.