SELF-ESTEEM

I WRITE from a new not-for-profit campaign which is urging parents in your area to boost their children’s selfesteem.

Shocking figures show one in seven primary school children now has a diagnosable mental health disorder. This rises to one in four by the time they get to high school.

A range of celebrities is behind our campaign including Olympic gold medallist Duncan Armstrong, Icehouse star Iva Davies, leading Australian female author Di Morrissey, Beaconsfield mining hero Brant Webb and actor Rob Carlton.

We are warning that there is no doubt that social media is causing some difficulties for some children and so many children use Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram. It’s never a good idea for children to compare themselves to others – that’s one of the messages of our campaign.

We are also highlighting there has been a rise in mental health problems in young people and suicide is the biggest killer of young people. So much more has to be done.

Our simple message is help your children with self-esteem at every opportunity. Teach them to show compassion to themselves. Teach your children to have a relationship with failure … because we can’t succeed at everything. Teach them to show compassion to themselves and to be courageous.

Our campaign is called “I Am Enough” and the message is for people to accept themselves and realise they are enough as they are. We have fact sheets for anybody who wants one. If you’d like a fact sheet, just email nameste@servicelane.com.au. SAMRAT KARKI, founder of “I Am Enough” campaign