Hello muffins. I would like to apologize for being gone for too long. I missed you all! I had to concentrate on my exams back at campus. It has not been a walk in the park. Otherwise, I hope that your children are doing fine, still popping the vitamins. How is school for them? I hope their grades have been really fine. Have the older ones learnt how to make some pancakes? Get them some chocolate syrup to go with it!

Yesterday I happened to watch a movie that left me with lots of mixed feelings. It is called “Ask Me Anything”. I will not spoil it for you but I think that it is something that you should look for. It made me think of the kinds of things that adolescents and teenagers would do if they get stressed out. Some of them might even engage in sexual immorality or drug abuse. The effects are not something we would want to proudly talk about.

What are the things that would get children stressed? Have you been scolding your daughter or son too much for the last couple of months over their grades? Do you suspect that your child is getting bullied in school? Do you have a nanny that you think is beating up the children or even abusing them? Most of the stressors that might be harmful to children are mostly things around them, things that they would not want to disclose to us due to fear.

Some signs of stress among children would be hypersomnia (sleeping for more than 10 hours a night, to the extent of even getting sleepy in class), or insomnia (sleeping for less than 5 hours a night and waking up too early, not because they do not want to sleep but because they have simply lost sleep).In serious extents, the children might even lose their hair, what we call traction alopecia. They might also reduce their social interaction with other children. They might also tend to break down in tears randomly- for no apparent reason. Hyper vigilance is also one of the signs of stress in children, where they are very scared of many things. They might also become very aggressive and self-defensive.

Why I am putting this across is because I want you to look at your child today and talk to them. Let them know that you are always there for them and that they are free to tell you anything. In case you cannot handle the child’s condition, kindly let them see a therapist. We might ignore children as people who simply do not have any feelings and emotions but they are amazing people who have bad and good days just as we adults have. Enjoy your Saturday and let’s meet on Wednesday! Let me know what you would like to talk about!

Photo credits : http://drjamesdobson.org/

Lots of love,

Ruguru Kimani.