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This hard hitting image is what #ChildrensMentalHealthWeek is all about.
These shoes on the steps of St George’s Hall represent the 226 school children who lost their lives to suicide in 2017.
Let’s work together to change this
Photo courtesy of: Chasing The Stigma and Radio City Talk
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This was a post that I saw on Facebook this week. It hits home really hard when you see this image. It brings to the attention the shock of suicide in children and really makes you think.
I have been really alarmed in this last year alone at the amount of suicides I myself have been seeing in my readings, but this has been the case for a while. However I am genuinely shocked at the amount of success I have been getting through of young children. Sadly for me the youngest being 12 years old. It hit me very hard that night at I brought him through to his mum and his gran and I admired their bravery in stepping forward only a few months after his tragic passing.
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My thoughts are why? What has changed in our society for this turn around in events. Is it getting out of hand, are we focusing too much on suicide and bringing to the forefront and is this having a detrimental effect on these younger people or are we simply not doing enough about the challenges that younger people face these days?
When I reflect on my childhood at 12 it was very different to the way my children’s lives are. I was happy and carefree, I used to go out and actually play! I would bike to my friends and have a time to come home and I would return home on time and have tea and snuggle up in my room and listen to records and paint my nails and have fun and write to my pen pal with such excitement. I would make mix tapes and listen to the top 20 on a Sunday with such enthusiasm being prepared with my chunky tape recorder to press play and record at precisely the right time to make the tape of all tapes. I would then sit with my pencil and push the tabs out so no one could tape over it! I would tidy my room and help mum around the house. Clean the bathroom with Monica from Friends precision and have fun!
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I would walk in the rain and not catch a cold, I would not wash my hands twenty times a day not would I worry if my 10 month old trainers looked dirty or did not have a designer label, back in the day I thought M&S was posh and that was about as designer as our house got. I would draw and paint and water my mums plants and clean the brass like it was going out of fashion.
Not once did I have to think how popular I was, or how many likes my photo had. I would know if I was popular by the amount of friends I had waiting on me at the school gate, or if the cute guy even looked at me once that day in class…then I was cool. I didn’t worry if my shoes where the latest in or my makeup was from some American person who had 13 million followers. I didn’t even know what a follower was! It would have been some weird cult back in the day.
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When I look at the struggles of the kids these days including mine, I panic. What have WE created? Society as a whole has created this train wreck that is getting out of hand and causing massive issues to our young children and furthermore the adults. Life is hard! It’s way to stressful and we have so much to have to prove seemingly. Political correctness has gone loopy and the schools are unable to do anything these days because of rules. Back in the day I was terrified of my head master and I mean terrified. Matrons ran hospitals within an inch of its cleanliness and well, policeman where allowed to police! Have we turned what was maybe something quite perfect into a nightmare and if we have is it too late to stop? Can we rewind or is it just heading further and further off the rails, taking victim after victim with it.
I’m not saying what we had was perfect but looking back it seemed pretty close compared to now.
I fear for my children and their children and for us all ……
I am not sure what the answer is but would love your feedback on this so feel free to email or comment and let us know your thoughts.
Lots of Love,
Paula xx
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