Staying healthy, both physically and mentally, is important for every mum. It's often overlooked that a mentally healthy mum is important to keep kids safe. Common sense tells us that a healthy mother is more likely to raise a healthy child. Parenting styles, support systems, and even the nature of the children all affect the mum's ability to raise healthy safe kids.
Depression in mums is not a new concept. Hormones in women are a blessing, but with that blessing is a curse that can bring depression with adolescence, menstrual cycles, pregnancies, menopause, and postpartum blues. Hormones go up and down and wreak havoc on our happiness, and many women are genetically predisposed towards depression and thus have to fight extra hard to beat it. Being aware of depression, and having the knowledge and support to fight it, are skills that every woman should master. Knowing that depression can affect the safety and behavior of your kids can help you get motivated to fight any temporary or lingering depression.
A study called the National Longitudinal Study of Youth has been conducting studies on youth since 1986. In 2007, the journal Injury Prevention published recent results from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth that found a correlation between keeping kids safe and depression in mums. A formal depression assessment was done on the mothers, and it was found that children of mums on the high end of the depression scale were more than twice as likely to be injured compared to mums that had a low rating of depression based on that same scale. Even when taking into account the socioeconomic factors such as income, insurance and education, the study found that the chances of a child being injured went up 4% with every "point" increase on the depression scale.
In 2008 the Journal of Pediatric Psychology published their findings on the link between keeping kids safe and depression in mothers. This study on kid safety found that infants and toddlers were three times more likely to get accidentally hurt (compared to infants and toddlers of the same age group) if their mums were severely depressed. This study can be alarming when compared to the high prevalence of post-partum depression. Interestingly enough, and even contradictory to the Injury Prevention publicized study, this study found that the correlation between depression and kid safety weaned as the children got older. However, this was attributed to the fact that as children get older they are more able to provide themselves with a safe environment.
Keep your kids safe by staying healthy and happy. Getting the support you need to help you take care of your kids does not mean you're a weak mum, it simply means you're smart enough to get help when you need it. Stay healthy and start kicking yourself out of depression so you can keep your kids safe. A healthy mum and a safe kid make a happy life.
Katherine is a mother of two beautiful girls, a devoted student of personal development and a successful businesswoman in the direct sales industry. To find out more about how you can earn a great income, make friends for life, spend more time with your family, help people everyday and do this all while working from home, visit my website at Change Your Future Now
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