Parenting Stack Exchange
Parenting Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [mental-health]

Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being of children or parents.

Mental health is defined by the World Health Organization as "a state of well-being in which every individual realizes his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community."

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My girlfriend has mentioned disowning her 14 y/o transgender daughter

My girlfriend's 14 year old daughter came out to me as a girl on a bike ride when her mother wasn't there. I fully accept her and gladly refer to her by her chosen name ('Emily' for the purposes of this question) and pronouns. Emily told me she…
Charlie
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Explaining mental illness to children

We have a relative with some sort of undiagnosed mental illness who (among other symptoms) compulsively cleans everything regularly with fairly strong bleach. Her fear of germs and infection is the most apparent symptom to my kids, who don't get…
Acire
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Is it a good approach to have a policy of apologizing for yelling at a kid?

A couple of times I encountered situation where people had a following policy If a parent yells at a kid out of frustration with no meaningful reason (e.g. the kid just got on their nerves but wasn't actually doing something punishment-worthy),…
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Which is more important for a baby: keep the baby happy or keep the baby healthy

Let me illustrate with some examples: A 5 month old wants to be held to sleep, and will cry hard if you put her down even for 1 min. She's clearly unhappy when not being held to sleep. Assuming no physical illness, should we just keep holding her…
user26433
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How To Handle Daughter's Bathroom (#2) Accident?

Our daughter (ca. 12-13 years old) plays softball for her junior high school team. The other day they played a game where apparently the bathroom facilities weren’t so great. Our daughter claims that the stalls in the bathroom didn’t have doors on…
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Strong-willed, 14 year old. Caught with e-cigarette paraphernalia and a condom

My 14yr old son, youngest of 4 (other 3 are triplets), has always been a very strong-willed kid. Over the years we have been able to channel that will thru his love of soccer. He plays a very competitive level. About 6 months ago, his Dad was…
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How can I help my daughter's depression?

My daughter is a freshman in college and was sexually assaulted/raped on campus about 7 months ago. I noticed some cuts on her wrist when she was home last weekend and she admitted that she is cutting her wrists. She is not a very open girl and I am…
user7090
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Three-year-old back from 3-night hospital stay

Our son recently returned home following three nights in the hospital with pneumonia. He's healthy, but the experience seems to have changed him, at least temporarily: He spent his entire time in isolation, not allowed to leave his room. One or…
notanengineer
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Is it okay to leave a 6-month-old with her grandparents to go on a week-long vacation?

Our baby is almost 6 months old, and we have a week-long vacation booked for 2 days from now. Suddenly, my mom got really scared because a friend told her that a baby left alone at this age (6-18 months) can be scarred for life. So I'd like some…
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Is there a downside to giving a preschooler band-aids when he doesn't really need them?

Our preschooler (3 1/2 years old) demands a band-aid for every minor injury, whether he's actually bleeding or not. I've tried discussing the actual purpose of an adhesive bandage (keeping a wound closed and dirt and germs away while it heals) and…
Acire
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How to keep away suicidal thoughts from my 15-year-old son who says "life is meaningless" after his friend's suicide?

Following a friend's suicide, our 15-year-old son is having an extremely hard time, experiencing suicidal thoughts and visible depression. And while he is very sad and shocked at losing his friend, his primary reason is that 'life is meaningless'…
Stephenie
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10 year old's screen time: Studies and/or Government recommendations?

My question is: I'm trying to find current (it's 2017) Government body recommendations, Medical/health/science organization recommendations or perhaps studies, on screen time daily hour use limits for kids in the 10 year age category. (Please -…
Fattie
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Could I have damaged my unborn baby in the womb?

I'm an intelligent and educated woman. I'm currently studying towards a Masters in Neuropsychology. On my reading list are books like 'early life origins of human health and disease' and 'only one chance' which explain the profound ways that the…
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How to ask dad to back down re new diagnosis (ADD)

So there's an interesting situation that I have with my dad. I'm going to try to explain it as clearly as I can. This should be on-topic here, as per https://parenting.meta.stackexchange.com/a/227. A little background: I'm 21 years old, and live at…
Samuel
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6 y/o hates himself, everyone and threatens suicide and violence

I'm a single parent of 2 kids ages 11 and 9. 16 months ago, I started dating my current girlfriend. She has 4 boys ages 6-11. Her and her ex have been divorced almost 5 years and they share custody so the dads still part of the equation. My…
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