4 Ways To Strengthen Your Child’s Mental Health
Of course, we all want our children to be as happy as can be, which is why we need to consider their mental health as well as physical.
Strengthen Your Child’s Mental Health
If you want to get your child’s mind healthy, here are a few things that you can do.
The capacity for happiness isn’t just about feeling euphoria constantly; life is full of ups and downs. Promoting positive mental health is also about strengthening resilience to deal with any challenges that arise.
Talk about feelings
Bottling things up isn’t the way to have a healthy mind. If your child doesn’t learn to talk appropriately about their feelings now, they may struggle to as an adult.
Encourage your child to talk to you about their feelings, whether it’s sadness, anger or a problem at school. You can give them helpful strategies to cope with their emotions and feel better.
This is especially important during the phenomenon called psychosocial stage 3, which occurs between the ages of 3 and 6, where children begin to develop a sense of self-consciousness.
They become aware of how they are seen by others and start to use this information to form their own identity. This is a time of significant social and emotional development, as children learn to navigate their relationships with others.
Stage 3 is an important time for parents and caregivers to provide support and guidance, as children learn to navigate this complex stage of development.
If your child doesn’t feel comfortable talking to you about certain things, you could help them to find someone who they can talk to.
Healthy leisure activities
You will want to make sure that your child does as many healthy leisure activities as possible. Spending enough time in the outdoors is an excellent tool to enrich mental health, connect with the natural world and to boost endorphins.
You should try to limit your child’s use of media. This doesn’t mean that they can never watch TV or play video games, but too much of these things can have negative effects on the brain.
Be vigilant when it comes to your child’s internet use, especially if they use online games that involve chat rooms.
Don’t overshare
While you will want to talk to your children and show them that it’s healthy to express emotion, you don’t want to overshare.
Ensure that they are not around when you are talking about adult issues, whether it’s marital problems or illness, for example. You won’t want to upset or scare them about things that they are not old enough to understand.
Ensure that what you and your friends are speaking about is always age appropriate.
If your child is having problems due to the break up of you and your partner, you can look to a family counseling center. Speaking with an impartial adviser can really help to facilitate positive change.
Develop their confidence
If you want to make your child feel amazing about themselves, you will want to show them as much love and understanding as you can, even on their bad days.
Ensure that you praise them for all their achievements and efforts as much as you can. You should ask them many questions about their likes and encourage them when they want to take up a new hobby.
Lastly, make sure that you are a role model by practicing lots of self-care in terms of your own physical and mental health.
Children will of course learn by their surroundings, so ensure that they have as many great role models as possible. Doing so will ensure that their minds stay healthy!