How can a future president address mental health issues among Singaporean youths? Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Ng Kok Song provide their two cents during their time on The Straits Times show, Ask The Next President Anything.
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00:00 Well, this is in fact a serious issue.
00:02 It's a serious issue, by the way, all over the world, but it's a serious issue in Singapore.
00:06 I think the first thing we have to do is, both for parents and kids,
00:12 don't be so stressed when the kids are young.
00:16 Don't stress the kids out.
00:18 Give them time to play, give them free time.
00:21 Don't spend so much time on preparing for examinations.
00:26 The whole system has to help.
00:27 The government is making changes in the education system to de-stress the system.
00:32 I think parents and kids have to realise that life is a long game.
00:38 It's a long game.
00:40 You may not be number one or even number five in school, but life is a long game.
00:44 You can keep learning and keep improving.
00:46 So when we are young, we've got to broaden ourselves,
00:50 have a range of enjoyable experiences, make friends,
00:54 and don't let stress build up in our system.
00:57 I believe that's very important.
00:59 Enjoy ourselves when we are young.
01:01 Life is meant to be carefree when we are young.
01:04 And we've got to be able to unwind our system
01:07 so that we go back to those days when life was carefree.
01:11 We'd be much better off in life if that was the case.
01:15 Mental health issues arise when our youth feel that they have to conform,
01:24 they have to comply, they have to perform to the expectations of their parents,
01:32 their teachers, and their peers.
01:37 And so I think social media has a lot of advantages,
01:41 but it also has the downside of requiring our youth to look good,
01:49 to appear good in the eyes of their peers.
01:53 So I feel that one good way for our children to be themselves
02:02 is to practice meditation, mindfulness.
02:06 Because I have discovered from my own experience
02:09 that that has helped me to be myself,
02:13 to let go of images that I would like to portray to other people,
02:21 or even images that I create for myself.
02:24 So it's very important for all our children, our youth,
02:29 to have confidence in themselves.
02:32 So I think meditation is perhaps the best way that I have learned
02:36 of addressing mental health issues.
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