Human beings are wired to show empathy. It is one of our strongest suits and is something that comes naturally to most people. Empathy is especially strong when there’s a child involved, more specifically, your child. This very thing has led to a ton of commonly believed myths about children and their development. 

Here are a few such myths that we’re debunking:

1. Development begins after birth until death

This is the most commonly believed myth about child development. Children start developing right from the ‘pre-natal stage’ and their brain continues to develop until it reaches maturity, which usually happens around the age of 25 years. There are specific milestones of development at different ages, which helps determine whether your child is on the right track or not.

2. Mental disorders are for life

When a child isn’t able to achieve the developmental milestone of his age group, he is said to have a dysfunction or disability. The right kind of treatment at the right time makes a world of a difference to a child’s development. Early therapeutic intervention is the key to helping a child with special needs to develop his skills and mental capacity to its fullest. With the right kind of environment and therapy, mental disorders can stop becoming an obstacle and the child can start developing into a healthy adult. 

3. Psychological issues are a result of bad parenting

Whenever anything bad happens to a child, the first thing most parents do is blame themselves. This, however, isn’t healthy and needs to stop. It is true that a child’s relationship with his parents and the environment he lives in plays a major role in his overall development, there are many other factors which determine the mental health of a child. The biological graph also plays a key role especially in the case of depression, anxiety, autism, etc. A parent isn’t to be blamed for his child’s mental issues but can help him overcome them by providing a loving and supporting home with a positive environment. 

4. Therapy is a scam

There are a lot of people who, even in this day and age, believe that there is no such thing as therapy. This is a very sad scenario though because therapy can help a child in ways even modern medicine fails. This kind of old-fashioned thinking, where people consider therapy to be a waste of time, actually goes on to harm a child rather than help him. There are a lot of treatment programs for children that focus on cognitive behaviour and therapeutic intervention is most successful. The main thing that people need to understand is that if mental health problems aren’t treated during childhood, they lead to bigger issues that transition into adulthood.

5. Psychological issues ‘go away’ with time

Time heals all wounds. This is something that is embedded into our sub-conscious right from childhood. Though this might be true, it isn’t applicable to every case, especially that which correlates to mental/physical development. The probability of children can grow into health issues is much higher than them falling out of issues. Leading therapists say, “Most mental health problems left untreated in childhood become more difficult to treat in adulthood.” Always remember, the right kind of care makes a world of difference to a child.