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MENTAL HEALTH
If Kids Are So Resilient, Why Are So Many Adults in Therapy?
When bad things happen to kids, they’re not always ‘fine’
How many times have you heard people say the phrase “kids are resilient” and how many adults do you know who are either in therapy or should be?
I could end this piece right here because I think I’ve already made my point.
But there’s a reason we are in denial about this.
Sometimes bad things happen to kids
Often, there’s not a thing we can do about it. A parent dies or a natural disaster hits. We feel pressure to downplay it.
I remember watching a little girl playing with the other kids after her father’s funeral. She looked “fine,” but I’m betting she wasn’t. Just because she wasn’t crying the entire time didn’t mean she wasn’t deeply affected.
I live near Washington, IL, where an EF-4 tornado hit in 2013. A friend of mine and her young daughter sheltered under the basement stairs while the storm lifted their house from the foundation and dropped it onto another spot. They had to be pulled from the wreckage.
More than a year later — well after their house had been completely rebuilt — I locked her…
