My 10 year old son has depression

[thebeachismyhappyplace2]

Since November my 10 year old son has gone from being a happy, outgoing, full of life, confident little boy to being really quiet and withdrawn and just looking quite sad at times. He seems to always be tired and has lost his appetite. I’ve been asking him all the time if everything is ok, if anything has happened at school and he just kept saying he’s just tired and I also know he was struggling a bit with the online learning and keeping up with it and because we are in a lockdown I just thought he’d bounce back once they went back to school a few weeks ago. Anyway he didn’t. It’s actually got worse. I asked his teacher and she said he was a bit quiet but didn’t notice anything else. Finally last night, he opened up to me sobbing his heart out saying he’s been feeling really depressed for months and that he looks at everything in life differently, what’s the meaning of life etc. It seems his friends have turned on him a bit and making fun of him and leaving him out. He said bad things keep happening to him. It’s massively affected his confidence and it breaks my heart that he’s been bottling this up as he felt embarrassed to talk about it. I had a huge talk with him and assured him this will pass, and I’ll try and arrange a couple of play dates in the holidays to try and get those friendships back on track. But also wondering if anyone can offer any advice please as I’m so worried about him. What would you do?

My anxiety and depression started at age 9.
I'm coming at this as what I would have needed as a child, but obviously each case is different.

• regularly check in with him aboyt how he is feeling and his mental health. Open communication will make all the difference and sounds like you've had a good chat.
• get a friend over for a garden play date ASAP
• ensure that he has access to hobbies/activities that aren't screen based
• if this goes on for longer than a few more months he needs to go to the gp to consider therapy. Early intervention is best

First of all tell him it is very common to feel sad for a period and then for it to get better so not to worry too much but to keep talking to you as the very best thing he can do is to be open about it.

Then contact a specialist charity like Young Minds or your GP for specialist advice.

You can help him day to day by providing nice activities to do - get away from screens and go back to basics - art, gardening, cooking, craft, walks, exercise, nature, collecting etc. Spend lots of time with him. Watch stupid and funny programmes together.