Do Children Suffer from Emotional Baggage Too?
posted on Nov 02, 2023
Gurukul The School, one of the top CBSE schools in Ghaziabad believe children also accumulate emotional baggage but in a form unique to their developmental stage and age.
When we hear terms like ‘emotional baggage,’ we instantly relate it to adults. Much of it can be credited to how concepts like these are explained using adult experiences alone. Having said that, we know it can be challenging for many parents to believe but children can experience this too! If you dive deep into the fundamentals of emotional baggage, you’ll understand why it isn’t restricted to people of a specific age group. Regardless of age and background, anyone can develop emotional baggage, and children are no exception.
To make it easier to understand, view emotional baggage as a lingering emotional experience that individuals carry from past events. We at Gurukul The School, one of the top CBSE schools in Ghaziabad believe children also accumulate emotional baggage but in a form unique to their developmental stage and age.
If you search for talks delivered by renowned developmental psychologists on this topic, you will realize that children are highly sensitive beings who absorb their emotional atmosphere like a sponge. From school interactions to familial dynamics – everything influences them, leaving behind an emotional imprint on them. These imprints shape children’s emotional responses and behaviors as they grow and try to navigate the world. If you’re curious to explore more about emotional baggage, keeping children in mind, read along.
What Creates Emotional Baggage in Children?
We have come across many parents who believe their children’s life is mostly about studying, playing, and happy memories. The reality is quite different. Emotional experiences play a huge part in their childhood and influence their future actions and behaviors. Much of their emotional baggage comes from family dynamics and school or peer interactions. Let’s dive deeper into both cases for improved clarity.
- Family Dynamics and Early Imprints
A family is the first social unit a child encounters, so it naturally plays a huge role in shaping their emotional well-being. If the family surroundings are dominated by parental stress, strained relationships, unresolved conflicts, etc., it will eventually cast a shadow on the child’s emotional canvas. We at Gurukul The School believe that children who grow up in environments filled with discord, tension, and other similar emotions, tend to carry the weight of these experiences into their adulthood as well.
As all children are highly attuned to their caregiver’s emotional state, you can notice that the parent’s emotional well-being massively influences their child’s sense of self-worth and security. Emotionally distressed parents can unknowingly transmit their anxieties to their kids, creating a ripple effect that can manifest in various ways in the child’s life.
- School and Peer Interactions
Children undergo a wide range of emotional experiences as they encounter various peer interactions daily. While many experiences are pleasant, it is the negative experiences, like social exclusion, bullying, academic pressure, etc., that create emotional baggage on children. These negative emotional experiences linger with kids for significantly longer, often making their way into their adolescence and adulthood. If such emotional baggage remains unaddressed and is not released at the right time, it can negatively affect the child’s self-esteem, social skills, and overall emotional resilience.
This is the reason why we at Gurukul The School not only pay a lot of attention to maintaining a nurturing school environment but also encourage parents to hold conversations around the topic with their kids so that they feel secure and begin working on releasing this baggage. Unaddressed emotional baggage can manifest as depression, anxiety, behavioral issues, etc. It is thus essential to work on it.
Break the Cycle of Emotional Baggage
We firmly believe that parents are the ones who can contribute the best to their kids’ holistic growth and development by acknowledging their kid’s emotional baggage. While there are numerous ways to get started, the following options can be a great starting point:
- Create Parental Awareness and Support
Every parent deserves to know how their actions influence their relationship with their kids and the emotional impact they exert. Encouraging open communication with other parents and children around kids’ emotional baggage can help create a secure and supportive environment in a parent-child relationship where all kids freely talk about their emotional baggage and make a concerted effort to release them.
- Encouraging Emotional Support Education in Schools
Integrating emotional education into the school curriculum is the best way to empower children with all relevant tools to understand, process, and manage their emotions. We at Gurukul The School, one of the best CBSE schools in Ghaziabad, believe teaching empathy, resilience, strong communication skills, etc., is as important as teaching traditional subjects to children for promoting their holistic growth. Parents can also teach emotion management techniques at home to aid kids’ growth journey and make mental health resources more accessible to kids for accelerated improvement.
Conclusion
Kids’ emotional well-being is multifaceted and an underestimated part of their growth and development. Hence, parents wanting their kids to become mature, well-rounded, and confident individuals must address the fact that children can also develop emotional baggage while growing. This acknowledgment can help them look for effective ways to assist their kids in releasing all emotional baggage. As a result, parents and society together can pave the way for a generation that’s better equipped to handle emotional challenges. You can also choose to take the help of professional specialized child psychologists and other credible professionals for personalized guidance if need be.