… As world celebrates day of the African child
Beverly Bizeki
As the world celebrates international day of the African Child which is commemorated on June 16 every year, a number of parents have said suicidal tendencies among children have become worrisome as the number of children committing suicide keeps increasing by the day.
Parents who spoke to TellZim news said this is largely due to pressure that children get through social media, family, backgrounds and mental health issues.
Kingdom Life Church International, Apostle Ngonidzashe Mutume said there is need for parents to look out for mental health issues in children and seek help for them instead of demonizing the condition.
“African parents usually tend to demonize suicidal tendencies in children and ignore mental health issues yet they need to be taken seriously. They need to have time with their children in order to be able to detect behavior changes on them and employ necessary professional assistance like counselling and therapy,” said Mutume.
Mutume said pressure from social media contributes to suicide on the young generation as most things they are not taught by their parents is found on social media.
“Social media is a contributor to some of the suicide cases among children as they can find most things they are not taught at home on social media. Most of the pressure our youths and adolescents are experiencing is found on social media like trying to fake a life,”
“We need to educate our children on the positive and negative impacts of social media as it can be a dangerous weapon to our youth if not handled properly. Parents need to monitor how children are using social media,” said Mutume.
Sungano Zvarebwanashe, a parent in Masvingo said suicidal tendencies among children of school going age is worrisome and is sometimes caused by peer pressure and the background of children.
“Some children experience pressure as they live in child headed families and the whole burden of looking after other family members is heavy to the extent of them giving up on life.
Other children have suicidal tendencies because they live without their parents and never got parental love which impacts them negatively. There is need for society to employ a collective approach in taking care of children despite which families they belong to,” Said Zvarebwanashe.
Another Masvingo parent Mary Mahofa said upbringing of children influence how they turn out to be as lack of parental love has a negative impact on them.
“Parents must to have a cordial relationship with their children so they can open up to their parents if they face challenges. Some children are orphans while some parents are unavailable to their children which results in children having pressure leading to suicide cases in children,” said Mahofa.
Recently a Vitoria High form three pupil committed suicide and details on reasons behind are still sketchy whilst another leaner from Vision academy in Masvingo committed suicide too recenlty.
This year the day was celebrated under the theme ‘the rights of the child in the digital environment.’
