Mental health days, as you probably already know, are incredible. You just need to take a day off to focus on yourself and your health, to repair any of those issues that have been forever neglected because of your busy lifestyle. If you read any of our articles here, or checked out our Ultimate Mental Health Day Guide, you know pretty much everything you need to know about a mental health day, and you might be more than ready to take one. But there’s one more thing left—convincing your parents. And for many of us, that’s a pretty hard feat. But fear not, because here we have 5 strategies to tell your parents you need a mental health day.
#1 – Explain Your Situation
You have to let your parents know why you’re even thinking of this. You can’t expect them to get on your side when they know practically nothing of why you would ever want this. Tell them the reasons why you’re thinking of a mental health day.
Don’t forget to give them the specifics. Don’t just tell them, “my mental health isn’t great”. Tell them, “School is stressing me out a lot”, or “I don’t have enough time for myself”. Complete honesty is what will most likely convince your parents. You have to tell them everything you’re feeling, so that they can sympathize with you and understand your reasons to take a mental health day.
#2 – Give Them the Facts
The first way to tell your parents you need a mental health day is great, but in all honesty, may not work for many. This is the second strategy you should take. Give them factual proof of how great mental health days can be.
The older generations have a tendency to disregard mental health. They believe it is not of importance, and it’s useless to attempt to care for it. It’s just due to their ignorance on the issue. On top of that, It’s up to you to educate them on it. Tell them about the many benefits to a mental health day, not only to your mental health, but your physical health as well, and your overall productivity and performance.
Don’t have an idea on the benefits of mental health days? Or do you need more information to back yourself? Check out our article on why students need mental health days, in which we describe reasons why you should take mental health days with cited sources (like WebMD) for you to reference as well!
#3 – Talk to a Trusted Adult
Do your parents never trust you to do something yourself? Do they not expect you to get anything right? Or do they simply never take what you say seriously, brushing off anything you bring up, regardless of how serious it is to you? Well, then this is the strategy for you. Your parents won’t regard what you have to say, but they might just listen when those same words are from the mouth of an adult.
Now, what adult would that be? I would say, choose someone with some expertise in the field of mental health and psychology. That person, for most of us, will be our counselor. Tell them your entire situation, form why you need a mental health day to why your parents won’t accept your request. Your counselor is there to help you, so I am 99% sure they will be on board with convincing your parents to give you a mental health day.
#4 – Make It Seem Like Something Else
You know your parents better than I do, and you know if any of these previous strategies won’t work. Maybe they really are so untrustworthy that not even a knowledgeable adult could convince them a mental health day might be the best option for you. In that case, it might be time for some white lies.
Make the mental health day seem like something else. If you’ve already read our article of activities to do during your mental health day, you probably have a good idea of what you’re going to do on your mental health day. My suggestion is to take one of those activities and make that the cover. Here’s an example:
Activity – play board games with family
Cover – “Let’s have tomorrow as a board game night for our family!”
You want to choose an activity that your family is going to appreciate, and with most parents, family-fun-time is an incredible suggestion they will be more than enthusiastic about.
#5 – Keep it a Secret
This final strategy, I hope, is your last resort, but for many of you. Unfortunately, I know that this is probably the first solution you’ll look to with strict parents. But trust me, it should not. When your mental health day is secret, you essentially have to act like it’s any other day. This is a bit of a problem, because having a mental health day is a break from normal chores and responsibilities, and it’s not helpful if you have to do them anyway.
However, if it really comes to that point, you can still utilize this strategy to have a mental health day. Try to get as much work done the days before, so there isn’t much for people to ask of you before your mental health day. During it, schedule your activities strategically so that it would not be disrupted by usual chores. Since much of what you;re taking a break from is schoolwork and studying, you can spend that time engaging in the activities you’ve listed at the same times you would normally be doing your work. While it isn’t a fully ideal mental health day, it is still a great way to relax and take your mind off of that stress.
Conclusion
So, there you have it. All the 5 ways you can tell your parents you need a mental health day. Don’t let your fear of your parent’s response get in the way of taking care of your mental health. It’s scary, I completely understand, and can be really uncomfortable if you never talk about this stuff with your parents. But if you don’t, you may never receive those amazing benefits you and your mind desire from your mental health. Try out these strategies of how to tell your parents you need a mental health day, and you will not regret it.
