5 Tips to help Children’s Mental Health

Your child’s mental health is just as important as his or her physical health. With a lot of things going on, such as social media, the pandemic and school, it’s not surprising that a lot of children are overwhelmed on a daily basis.

Thankfully, there are several ways on how you can support your precious one during these difficult times. Here are 5 tips to help support your child’s mental health.

1) Stabilise Their Sleeping Habits

Maintaining regular hours of deep sleep is important for a growing child because it’s good for their emotional well-being.

Your child may not be expending their energies as much at home as when they’re outside, and school might have reduced hours. Waking up is now more flexible, but that means your child is slowly slipping out of his or her routine. This can lead to inadequate or poor sleep, and in time result in impacted learning capacity and cognitive and behavioural issues.

Aside from hitting the numbers it’s important that you stabilize their habits. Teaching them deep breathing or try having a warm bath and a bedtime story which helps normalize things.

2) Be The Rock in an Unsteady World

There’s a lot of things going on not just in the real world, but the online realm as well. News, social media and similar content may sound terrifying for them especially when it’s their first time hearing about it.

As a parent or guardian it’s your task to ensure they’re prepared for such things since they’ll have to face it eventually. For the good of their mental being you can encourage and incorporate periods of mindfulness in simple activities, such as sitting down and relaxing, breathing techniques and walking. It’s calming, promotes happiness and minimizes negative feelings.

It also helps to set an example for them. When news or something bad happens, show that you’re calm and in charge, and able to think clearly and formulate a good solution to address the issue.

3) Spend Time to Understand Them

Mental health is made up of many aspects, including anxiety, frustration, anger and others. It’s not a cookie-cutter scenario where there’s only one emotional issue to deal with.

Children are now more dependent on their parents as ever. The lockdown has a lot to do with that, but it shouldn’t mean that you let them deal with the situation themselves.

One of the most effective ways to solve this problem is to think like your child. Take it from their perspective and you might be able to see things differently. For example, if they’re constantly upset then it could mean that they don’t have the means to do what they want. Narrow down the possibilities by having a sit-down and a conversation with your young one. You could be right or there might be something else that’s affecting their situation.

4) Incorporate Regular Exercise

Exercise and physical movement is a part of a well-rounded mental health routine in the home. Children these days have plenty of energy to burn, especially when they stay mostly at home.

Finding the time to fit physical activities amid all those work from home projects, cooking and cleaning can be difficult but the rewards are immense. Not only will your little one sleep more soundly but they will be physically ready to do anything.

Excessive sitting is the one thing you should combat. The good news is that there are a lot of choices that could pique your child’s interest. Have a sit-down and ask what kind of activities they like, then plan a schedule, e.g., thrice a week in 30-minute sessions to carry it out.

5) Stay Positive

Above all else, you as a parent should be optimistic and carry a positive attitude. Simply exuding this aura around your child will work wonders and ease off the blues.

It’s difficult to be light-hearted when times are tough, but this is an example you should set for your children. Negativity can only make things worse, and any situation does have a silver lining.

Adopting a grateful attitude and looking at the right things instead of the wrong are recommended. A good way to keep your child positive and busy is to plan events, such as movie night, game night or a special dinner during weekends.