By Sabrina Khan (Dhaka Bureau)
When our body is tired, we rest. We sleep, lie down, or take a break. But what do we do when our mind is tired? Most of the time, we don’t stop. Instead, we engage our brain in even more mental work- replaying past conversations, analyzing who said what and why, comparing our lives with others, or scrolling endlessly on screen. By the end of the day, we realize that our mind is far more exhausted than our body.
For a long time, this mental fatigue was considered an adult problem. But contemporary reality reveals a different story: today’s children are mentally more exhausted than adults. Parents often dismiss it, thinking, ‘What stress could they possibly have?’ Yet inside their small heads, a silent psychological battle is being fought every single day.
Modern Life and the Psychological Shift in Children
A generation ago, children returned home physically tired from the playground. Today, they return mentally exhausted from the digital realm. An uninterrupted stream of reels, online games, and video content keeps their brain in a state of continuous information processing without pause.
According to experts, the consequences are visible and far-reaching:
Shrinking Attention Spans:
Children are struggling to maintain focus for extended periods.
Mood Instability:
Irritability and behavioral challenges are on the rise.
Sleep Disturbances and Anxiety: Research directly links excessive screen time with heightened anxiety and emotional volatility in children.
The Burden of Perfection, Suppressed Emotions, and the Crisis of Creativity
From family dinner tables to classrooms and social media feeds, children receive a single, relentless message: ‘You must be the best.’ This constant pressure to perform fosters a deep-seated insecurity- the belief that ‘I am not enough.’ As a result, their self-confidence fractures before their personality fully matures, leading them to fear failure more than they value effort.
Renowned child specialist, author, and Rabindra Sangeet artist Prof. Dr. Reaz Mubarak highlights a critical dimension of this crisis:
‘We often tell children, ‘Don’t cry, you are a big boy now,’ or ‘Don’t get angry.’ Through these well-meaning phrases, we inadvertently teach them that expressing sadness or anger is inappropriate. Consequently, they stop expressing emotions and start bottling them up. This unexpressed fear, sadness, and frustration later surfaces as stubbornness, aggression, or complete emotional withdrawal.’
Prof. Reaz Mubarak further notes that boredom was once the primary catalyst for creativity. When children were bored, they invented games or built stories from scratch. Today, the moment a child says, ‘I’m bored,’ a gadget is placed in their hands. In trying to keep them constantly entertained, we have stripped away their natural ability to generate their own joy and be comfortable in their own presence.
Mental Detox: Practical Solutions and Guidance
Rescuing children from this mental exhaustion requires a ‘mental detox.’ Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shaheen Akhter, a leading child development and neurological specialist in Bangladesh, explains the concept simply:
‘A mental detox does not mean taking your child to a remote mountain retreat or permanently confiscating their phone. It means gently helping them clean that cluttered little room inside their mind.’
Based on expert recommendations, several practical steps have been identified for parents:
1. Institute a 90-Minute No-Gadget, No-Study Zone:
Establish a non-negotiable rule of 30 minutes daily with no homework, no screens, and no instructions. What the child does during this time is entirely their choice- drawing, playing with Lego blocks, touching soil, or simply sitting idle. This intentional “doing nothing” provides the most powerful rest for an overstimulated brain.
2. Listen Rather Than Fix:
When a child receives low marks or feels down, resist the urge to immediately offer solutions. Instead, help them name their emotions by asking, ‘You seem upset, don’t you?’ Encourage them to label their feelings- anger, fear, or disappointment. Giving them a notebook to draw or write provides an outlet for inner tension to unravel.
3. Unconditional Love and Safe Spaces:
Cease all comparisons with other children, regardless of intentions. Instill a firm belief in them: ‘Even if you fail, we will love you just the same.’ A child assured that love is not conditional on performance finds the courage to try again.
4. Practice Silence Together:
Before bedtime, turn off all lights for five minutes. With no stories or music, simply say, ‘Let’s just listen to our breathing for a while.’ This simple exercise helps children re-anchor with their inner selves- a form of accessible meditation for children.
5. Prioritize Physical Foundations:
A consistent sleep schedule, nutritious food, and at least an hour of physical play that makes them sweat form three foundational pillars. When these are in place, half of the mental clutter clears automatically.
Our role as parents and as a society is not to shelter children from every adversity in life, but to teach them how to create a calm, peaceful sanctuary within themselves amidst the chaos.
The child who learns to manage their own mind today is the one who will not merely survive, but thrive and lead in the pressure-filled world of tomorrow.
Sabrina Khan:
Sabrina Khan is a Tagore singer (Rabindra Sangeet artist) and senior educator. After completing her studies in Tagore Music at Rabindra Bharati University in India, she worked as a Communications Expert with the European Union (EU) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). She also served as a trainer at the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs (CCP). Subsequently, she spent many years in the teaching profession.
An active member of the international human rights organization ‘Humanist Movement’, Sabrina Khan is a columnist and a Staff Correspondent for the Pressenza- Dhaka Bureau.
