The anxieties and self-harm of a soon-to-be first-year middle school student and the emotional structure revealed within family relationships were repeatedly exposed, posing weighty questions to viewers.
On the night of the 16th, Channel A 'These days parenting: My kid is like a gem' aired a follow-up to the episode 'Mom S.O.S! My soon-to-be first-year middle school daughter is attempting self-harm.' The broadcast progressively highlighted relational problems underlying the child's anxious behaviors.
In earlier scenes, the child showed a strong obsession with open chat rooms and rejected her mother's control, and in the process, unable to manage her emotions, even displayed violent behavior. Psychiatrist Oh Eun-young diagnosed that self-harm and harming others are essentially of the same nature, saying, "It is only a matter of whether the arrow is aimed at oneself or at others." She explained this as unresolved fundamental anxiety erupting in a different form.
In the subsequent broadcast, the child's family relationships were revealed in more detail. When her brother, who had been living in a dormitory, returned home, the child showed noticeably different behavior. Unlike when she was alone with her mother, she responded to criticism in front of her brother with laughter and immediately complied even with firm words.
Watching this, psychiatrist Oh Eun-young analyzed, "To the child, the brother is both an object of admiration and someone she wants to follow," adding, "By seeing the natural attention and warm responses the mother shows to the brother, the child likely felt she was not chosen."
The conflict deepened during a phone call between the mother and father. After watching the child cry and complain to her father, the mother called her ex-husband and poured out repressed feelings, and the child, hearing everything, intervened saying, "Stop calling." She then expressed extreme self-denial emotions, saying, "I'm sorry I was born," and "I regret being born."
Regarding this, psychiatrist Oh Eun-young said the child's words are more an expression of the fear of being abandoned than sincere, explaining, "In the child's memory there may remain the feeling that 'Mom chose my brother and sent me away.'" She added, "Statements that deny one's very existence are very strong signals of anxiety," and emphasized, "It is essential to understand and help the child accept these feelings."
The broadcast did not treat the child's problems as merely subjects for behavioral correction, but calmly examined what marks parents' choices and emotional structures leave on a child. It made clear that a child's anxiety does not arise overnight but is formed through repeated experiences.
Meanwhile, Channel A 'These days parenting: My kid is like a gem' airs every Friday at 9 p.m.<
[Photo] Channel A 'These days parenting: My kid is like a gem' broadcast screen capture
[OSEN]