Emotional ups and downs are a part of every child’s life during their growing up years through adolescence to teenage. Many children come across mental health issues or emotional problems, which they might hesitate to discuss with family or friends.

However, if such issues are ignored and continued, it might become difficult to deal with them later. So it is important to identify such problem areas at the earliest where your child gets into emotional trauma and tries to deal with them in the best possible way.

However, when to take your child to a counsellor is a question that every parent will have a different perspective about.

Before deciding to take your child to a counsellor, it is better to guide your kid on your own.

As parents you can take the following steps to ensure that you take the appropriate steps to counsel your child before reaching a counsellor.

• Talk to your child – Express your feelings healthily. Hear your child out. Let your kid put out their feelings in words. Let them know that you are there to listen and help and you understand their emotional condition.
• Involve in activities – involve your kid in activities that might help them in coping with particular situations. Explain about different situations in a play way manner.   

• Practice skills through fun ways – let your kids practice what they like. Let them learn the tactics of self-control and patience through games and other fun ways.
• Solve problems – for teenagers it is important to understand how different problems are affecting them, be it at home or at school and talk about how to solve them.

Some struggles are normal during the growing up years of a child and it is definitely better to talk to your child and solve such moodiness, social and emotional trauma on your own. However, in extreme cases, when there are situations that are beyond your control, it is recommended to visit a child counsellor for better guidance and support.

Here are a few signs shown that you might visit a counsellor for your child’s benefit:

• When you feel that your child is having difficulty in multiple areas of life like family, academics, friend circles and so on.
• When you feel that your child is getting less effective or has lack of confidence
• When the child is excessively worried about life, career
• When your child portrays the feeling of hopelessness and fear
• Stays aloof, withdraws from family and friends
• Engages in negative activities or destructive behaviour
• Engages in self-harm
• Talks and feels negative all the time
• Openly discusses about things like suicide etc.

Overall, it is up to the parents to trust their feelings to decide about your child behaviour and when to take him to a counsellor. Every parent know their child better and they are the best judge to decide about their child and what is best for him/her. If you feel that a counsellor would be able to guide your child in the best possible way and counsel him/her about their conditions or issues, you must listen to your instinct and do what is right for your child and his/her future.