| Aastha |
Posted
on 10-Jan-02 10:27 PM
In my opinion, every person goes through Depression at any stage of his/her life. Some people cling on to it, while others let go off of it and I am sure there are numerous factors that lead to the cause and also there are factors that eventually help overcome Depression. Just as other people suggested in the previous thread, I too would like to suggest that sharing with a friend that you trust, someone who cares, and listens would be one of the ways to get help.
"Charity begins at home", they say. Therefore, it will be really good for children to learn and know from their parents about not just depression, but various issues that affect our lives, things that we experience so on and so forth. In Nepal, lack of effective communication between parents and children is one of the main problems that lead to several unwanted consequences.
A common scenario of a a typical nepali family (on average) would be something like this. The mother wakes up early in the morning, does puja ajaa, then prepares food for the husband and the kids then in the afternoon she will have time to visit the next door neighbour and indulge in "idle gossip", wait for the kids to come home from school, cook food again, eat watch TV and go to bed. As for the father, he'd wake up in the morning, drink the early morning tea/coffee that his wife makes, read the newspaper, time to go to the office, comes back home, talks on the phone, get together with his friends, talk politics, watch the TV, have dinner then send the kids away to bed then goes to bed. He will have other stuffs to talk about with other people but with his own kids? perhaps just two or three sentences a day!! Where is the "communication"? The result? A huge gap or a bridge built between the parents and the children that leads to confusion, misunderstanding, and what not.
There might hardly be anyone who would disagree with this. I am not saying there aren't any households where parents give undivided attention to kids, of course there may be some. But in most cases, what we find is a huge communication gap and this is what causes a great deal of problems in the course of our lives.
Therefore parents need to develp the habit of communicating more with their kids, it doesn't have to be about big stuffs, or issues but even a simple "how are you feeling, how is everything going on" would mean a lot to the kids. I am not trying to preach or anything, but it's just an expression of my opinion. Something I myself have experienced in my family. And if this helps in raising awareness, or makes someone think for a while and look back to their past and bring a change in the present then you'd be lucky to foster a good relationship with your loved ones.
I also think that schools in Nepal should introduce programs that will help a child, understand the different facts of life. Programs such as counselling students (either one on one basis or in group) of all facets who are in difficult situations should be implemented not just in schools but also in Colleges and Universities. There are plenty of strategies to do so, it's just that we never pay attention or even give it a thought. If we are parents, then we can always give suggestions to schools and Universities. And if we are teachers or college professors then we can really make a difference in people's lives if we implement such strategies in our schools and colleges and work towards helping people who are not just depressed but are going through difficult circumstances, whatever the causes are. Educational Seminars for Parents, teachers as well as students could be conducted by experts that would be very beneficial as well.
Well, there goes my take on the subject. I could go further, but I'm afraid I won't be able to do so as I have work tomorrow. So perhaps we can delve on it more some other time. Thank you! and enjoy life!
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