Paradise Under Your Feet — Page 106
106 Hazrat Khalifatul-Masih IV (rh) emphasized this when he said: “ We greatly need the environment in our homes to be decent, to be pleasant. It should be the perpetual wish of men, sons, and daughters to come home to find peace. They should love each other, show affection, and the pleasure they find in their home environment should put to shame the outside amusements. ” 6. 5 Physical and Emotional Health Teenagers need proper nutrition and exercise to be able to cope with all their emotional and physical needs. Recent years have seen an increase in obesity in children. Contributing factors are a diet heavy in fat, sugar and carbohydrates and lack of exercise. It is a good idea to provide a healthy packed lunch for school rather than allowing teenagers to buy food and soda at school canteens. Other problems such as poor self-worth, excessive self- consciousness, mood volatility, extreme sensitivity and depression may prevail among teenagers in general, with teenage suicide becoming more common. Substance abuse can often start in this group with signs that can be overlooked by some parents, such as falling grades, isolation, lying, stealing money etc. Ahmadi Muslim mothers should never think that these problems cannot happen to their children. They should not rely solely on prayers to safeguard their children - although prayers are very important - still, they need to be ever watchful and take action to guard their children from social ills whenever necessary. Sleep is an important factor in maintaining teenage health and growth, but it is usually disrupted during these years. Teenagers are notorious for staying up late and being hard to awaken in the morning. This is partly due to the demands of homework, extra-curricular activities and use of computers and electronic gadgets and partly due