Every time teachers sit together and talk about mental health, someone eventually sighs and says it — students today are too sensitive. And not sensitive like heartfelt-poem-writing sensitive. Sensitive like… one small correction and their emotional Wi-Fi disconnects.
Before you picture strict teachers with thermocol rulers, let’s be fair: they’re not complaining. They’re confused.
How did a simple no become a full-blown disaster movie?
Spoiler: it didn’t start in school
It started years earlier. At home. In strollers. In toy shops. In living rooms.
Every time a toddler screamed for a chocolate and got it faster than Amazon Prime delivery, frustration tolerance took a small hit.
We didn’t notice.
We thought we were being caring.
Then one day the child turned up at school, and the teacher’s harmless feedback felt like a personal attack.
What this really means is: we’re raising kids who can swipe, click, scroll, and command Alexa… but can’t handle a no without buffering.
The missing skill no one ordered on Amazon
Frustration tolerance.
The ability to hear no, wait your turn, fail a little, try again, and not fall apart.
Every adult has it (at least the ones who survived landline phones and dial-up internet).
But many kids today missed the download.
And when that skill is missing, even the smallest feedback feels like a notification from the universe saying you’re worthless — which isn’t true, of course, but the emotional drama suggests otherwise.
Let’s break the cycle — without losing our sanity
Here are some simple ways schools and parents can bring resilience back, one small discomfort at a time.
1. Make no great again
(Not politically. Emotionally.)
A no is not a threat.
A no is not trauma.
A no is practice for life.
Hold your ground lovingly. Kids feel safer when adults act like adults and not customer care executives.
2. Waiting: the forgotten art
Make waiting normal again.
Teach kids that not everything arrives in ten seconds like a YouTube ad you can’t skip.
Let them wait for snacks, results, turns, and rewards.
Tiny delays build huge emotional muscles.
3. Rebrand failure
Failure has terrible PR.
Let’s fix that.
Show kids your own flop stories.
Tell them how you didn’t win every race or test or neighbourhood cricket match.
Make failure sound like a guest that visits often but never overstays.
4. Build feelings vocabulary
Kids can’t manage emotions they can’t name.
Give them words like:
I’m frustrated
I’m tired
I’m disappointed
I’m overwhelmed
Because a child who can say I’m upset doesn’t need to say it with tears, screams, or dramatic exits.
5. Make parent–teacher partnership less awkward
Right now, a lot of parents and teachers treat each other like exes who only talk on annual day.
Fix that.
Run quick parent meets on:
-
setting boundaries at home
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holding no without guilt
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managing tantrums without surrender
You’ll be surprised how much smoother school life becomes when everyone follows the same playbook.
6. Correct with curiosity
Instead of why didn’t you do this?
Try what got in the way for you?
Same outcome. Lower blood pressure. Higher cooperation.
Before we wrap up…
Mental health matters.
Sensitivity is not the enemy.
But fragility? That’s a problem.
Children don’t break when they hear no.
They break when they’ve never heard it.
Frustration tolerance isn’t built in therapy sessions.
It’s built in the small everyday moments when a child waits, tries, fails, and realises… hey, that wasn’t so bad.
If we want emotionally strong students who can handle feedback without spiralling, we need to build those emotional muscles early — at home, in school, in life.
The world isn’t always going to give them what they want.
But we can absolutely give them the strength to handle it