Supporting mental health in children focusing on a strong relationship.
Good mental health is key to children’s overall development. It’s also very important in helping children and adults adapt to change and deal with life’s challenges.
Your child needs good mental health to develop in a healthy way socially, emotionally, mentally and physically. Good mental health in childhood also provides the foundation for better mental health and wellbeing later in life.
What is children’s mental health? It is the way children think or feel about themselves and the world around them. It’s related to how children cope with stress and life’s challenges (resilience).
Good mental health in children is shown as:
feel happy and positive about themselves
enjoy life
learn well
build healthy relationships with family and friends
able to manage sadness, worry or anger
able to bounce back from tough times
How do we foster good mental health in children? A strong relationship with you directly and positively affects your child’s mental health. It’s important to take care of your mental health first before you can give it back to your children as undealt issues can be projected to your relationship with your children.
Here are some ideas to promote your child’s mental health and wellbeing through a loving and supportive relationship:
Show unconditional love, through verbal and nonverbal communication. Lot’s and lot’s of cuddles too!
Praise and encourage your child
Make time to talk and actively listen to your child.
Enjoy time with your child.
Work on positive ways to solve problems and manage conflict between you and your partner, with your child and other family members.
Encourage your child to connect with others in the society. This gives your child a stronger sense of her place in the world and helps her learn how to relate to different people.
There are other ways to promote your child’s mental health and wellbeing through a focus on behaviour and physical health. This will be discussed on the next blog.
Comments