If children are given that space to grow they will grow: Dr Shelja Sen

Dr Shelja Sen, Natasha Badhwar, Dr Samir Parikh and Nupur Dhingra Paiva spoke to TOI Write India winner Dr Roshan Radhakrishnan on the mental health difficulties the new generation faces.
Nupur Badhwar, the author of 'My Daughters' Mum', pointed out that, though their parents are quite conservative, this generation is exposed to such diversity through social media that it they would cause cognitive dissonance at a subconscious level that leads to the feeling of restlessness.
Dr Shelja Sen is a therapist, writer and co-founder of Children First, an institute of child and adolescent mental health. She deals with a lot of children and teenagers and has authored many books on mental health. She agreed with Natasha, adding however that despite the social media, many of them suffered from loneliness, pointing out that though most were connected through social media, they lacked real connections with each other.
Dr Samir Parikh is a Consultant Psychiatrist with Fortis Healthcare and the Director of the Fortis National Mental Health Program. He started by pointing out that by calling the young restless, it is we who are branding whatever they feel as restless, adding that this feeling isn't just there in this generation but has always existed.
Nupur Dhingra Paiva a Chartered Clinical Psychologist, who is the lead Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist for Family Tree, a Child and Adolescent Mental Health Team in New Delhi agreed that technology has changed parenting but pointed out that it's the parents who first hand the phone to the child and "that's the moment it all begins; that disconnection from what is it the child is complaining about and why is this child throwing a tantrum."
All of them agreed that parents and their assumptions can often cause blocks in terms of healing but the young patients were rarely the problem. Dr Samir Parikh gave everyone a thought to muse on when he said, "I always wondered; is the word adult coming from adulteration or adulteration coming from adult because we've got adulterated by our own experiences."
They also spoke on the pressures and failures on the education system. Dr Shelja Sen spoke on the importance of emotionally safe spaces in every aspect of a childs life, saying, "I think schools also need to be emotionally safe spaces and if children are given that space to grow they will grow. Each child at his or her own pace, [as] each child s wired and inspired differently."
Nupur Badhwar spoke on the impact both parents have an on the child and gave some helpful advice to the parents saying, "There's so much to learn, as a parent, from the other parent. Not only because you're of different gender, but because you're from different families"
The session gave the audience a lot to ponder on how the pressures of the modern world and the impact it has on the mental health of the new generation. Parents were no doubt left with a better understanding of what their children were going through and how better to be there for them.