Your child’s emotional wellbeing is just as important as their physical health. With increasing numbers of young people experiencing mental health difficulties, it’s important to do everything we can to help children develop the tools they’ll need in later life.
By taking a proactive approach to your child’s emotional development, you can help them to deal with challenging situations, access support when they need it, and process their feelings in a healthy way. To learn more, take a look at these top tips for optimizing your child’s emotional wellbeing:
1. Encourage Self-Reflection
Children are capable of self-reflection from a relatively young age and this is a good way for them to help identify their thoughts and feelings. Encouraging your child to vocalize their feelings and helping them to establish the cause of these emotions is a great way to start.
2. Recognize Accomplishments
Whenever your child achieves something – whether it’s big or small – be sure to recognize it. It’s easy to overlook things when you’re dealing with the pressures of work and family life, but taking a few seconds to congratulate your child can have an enormous impact on them.
3. Know the Challenges They’re Facing
Your child will experience different issues as they get older and it’s important to have an understanding of the challenges that they’re likely to face. You may want to learn more about internet safety before your child starts high school, for example. Alternatively, take a look at this article on the college students mental health crisis to get a deeper insight into issues older teens are experiencing. No matter what age your kids are, you’ll always play a role in their emotional wellbeing, so staying up to date with the issues facing tweens and teens can be extremely helpful.
4. See Things from Their Perspective
When you take the time to see things from your child’s perspective, you’re showing that you value their thoughts, feelings and opinions. What’s more – you’re teaching them how important it is to listen to other people and take their feelings on board. Children need to feel valued, and actively listening to them is just one way you can reinforce this.
5. Be Available
You can’t always drop everything to take your kid to the park or play video games with them, but being as accessible as possible is always beneficial. When your child knows they can talk to you about anything, you can ensure they feel comfortable reaching out for support when it’s needed. Remember – kids will often approach major topics when you’re partially distracted, so don’t let this prevent you from hearing what they have to say.
Prioritizing Good Mental Health
Although awareness of mental health issues is growing, it’s still difficult for many people to find the help and support they need. By prioritizing your child’s emotional development, you can help to ensure that they have the tools and resources they need throughout their life. Additionally, making mental health a topic of conversion in your home will help to teach your kids to nurture their own emotional wellbeing.
Disclosure: This is a collaborative post.
