Counting Kindness Helps Your Child’s Mental Health
12/19/23 • 8 min
1 Listener
We all know there is a mental health crisis out there. We have real numbers that highlight elevated rates of anxiety and depression for kids, teenagers, people of color, men, working mothers. The numbers tell the story. The percentages, increases, and statistical significance are all important.
Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by data, as are our children. Their GPA’s, instagram likes, rebounds, SAT Scores, tardies, goals, and more, are all measured and highlighted. “What is measured gets done.” The data tells the story. Numbers are concrete, clear, and feel important.
Yet we don’t keep data on what actually counts in life. There are no decimal points for kindness, helping others, empathy, or quality of relationships. And because there is no data to be analyzed for these qualities in this numbers-crazed world, we have learned not to value the qualities that make us healthy and whole. No wonder there is a mental health crisis.
Let's have a closer look at this in today's episode!
We always love hearing from you, so don’t be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today’s episode!
Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!
And if you haven’t done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of our future episodes!
More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at:
We all know there is a mental health crisis out there. We have real numbers that highlight elevated rates of anxiety and depression for kids, teenagers, people of color, men, working mothers. The numbers tell the story. The percentages, increases, and statistical significance are all important.
Everywhere we go, we are surrounded by data, as are our children. Their GPA’s, instagram likes, rebounds, SAT Scores, tardies, goals, and more, are all measured and highlighted. “What is measured gets done.” The data tells the story. Numbers are concrete, clear, and feel important.
Yet we don’t keep data on what actually counts in life. There are no decimal points for kindness, helping others, empathy, or quality of relationships. And because there is no data to be analyzed for these qualities in this numbers-crazed world, we have learned not to value the qualities that make us healthy and whole. No wonder there is a mental health crisis.
Let's have a closer look at this in today's episode!
We always love hearing from you, so don’t be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today’s episode!
Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!
And if you haven’t done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of our future episodes!
More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at:
Previous Episode
Spreading Holiday Cheer for All of Your Community to Hear
The holiday season is in full swing and for many of us, it all just looks and feels different than when we were kids. Over 40 million Americans have stopped going to church in the last 25 years, meaning that communal Sundays and structured lessons in forgiveness and giving aren’t as consistent anymore for us and our children. Although many Americans have found other communal organizations to replace church, a lot also haven’t.
The longing for community and organized religion that so many of us feel right now shows us the sense of tradition, love, and belonging that we’re looking for which is essential to our mental health. And it’s completely related to the huge loneliness pandemic that is going on right now. As I always tell my kids: Loneliness is the new smoking.
Let’s listen to the absence of communities that we feel most now around the Holidays and do something different this year for our own and our kid’s mental health.
In this episode on community around the Holidays, we discuss:
- The ways we connect with people are changing and affecting our mental health;
- How the Holidays and our traditions around them look very different now from the ones we grew up with and how this affects us;
- Where’s the longing for belonging and community coming from that we feel even more around the Holidays?;
- Our society promotes individualism over community;
- Simple ideas on how to teach our kids to give to others this Holiday season;
- And more!
We always love hearing from you, so don’t be shy, come over to our Facebook or Instagram and let us know what you thought about today’s episode!
Ps. Do you love listening to our podcast? It would mean the absolute world to us if you could leave a review on Apple Podcasts. This will help our show so we can help more parents and families feel more active and connected in their lives. You can leave a review by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, tapping to leave a star rating and then write your review. Thanks so much!
And if you haven’t done so yet, make sure to subscribe to our show so you don’t miss any of our future episodes!
More info? You can find the full show notes, links and resources over at:
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