Emotional wounds in childhood are not a small matter to be overlooked.

Many people may think that when children face bad experiences in life, it probably doesn’t have much impact because they are still young and will soon forget. But in reality, the bad experiences encountered during childhood are what cause significant effects that can last into adulthood.

Emotional impacts may cause the brain to function worse!

As we know, childhood is a period when the brain is rapidly developing, with a significant increase in the number of neurons and the creation of vast neural connections that affect learning in various areas. In children who experience traumatic events, the body produces stress-related hormones. If these hormones remain at high levels for a long time, it will result in reduced neural connections in the brain, especially in areas related to learning and reasoning. The already developed neural connections will also function worse, particularly in the parts of the brain responsible for thinking and reasoning. On the other hand, the brain areas responsible for survival instincts will become stronger, causing life events to be managed not through the reasoning part of the brain (or mindfulness) but through the instinctive brain (which leads to using violence or fleeing).

Stress hormones have more impact than you think

Besides affecting the brain, prolonged presence of stress hormones in the body also weakens the immune system, increases inflammation reactions, and leads to various diseases as one ages, such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer, and psychiatric disorders. Therefore, it is best to protect children from encountering severe life events.

If a bad event occurs, how should we cope?

If such an event has already happened, the best people to help the child are undoubtedly “everyone in the family.” Love, understanding, and strong family bonds will help the child get through the bad experience well. What the family can do together is to observe changes in the child’s behavior, such as becoming more irritable, no longer doing things they used to do, having difficulty sleeping, etc. Sometimes, children may not express or tell us directly. If these problems persist for a long time or the family tries to manage but cannot resolve them, the child should be taken to consult a child psychiatrist.

“Paying attention to the child’s feelings helps the child to speak and vent. For young children, caregivers may help by telling and reflecting the child’s emotions so they can recognize and learn them, while also making the child feel that we are ready to listen and always be by their side, never tired of answering their questions. This makes the child feel confident that they are safe and that everyone in the family will do everything to keep them safe.”

But ultimately, parents must remember that routines or discipline that should be followed still need to be maintained as usual; there is no need to indulge the child more.