8 Ways to Support Your Child’s Mental Health and Well-Being

As parents and caregivers, there are ways we can support our children to give them the best chance to stay mentally healthy.

Parents play a huge role in teaching activities that promote good mental health. The ability to label and manage emotions, identify needs, and ask for support are worth building for everyone — especially since these skills may help protect against future mental health concerns. You can help a child to have good mental health

1. Listen to Your Children’s Concerns

It is essential to listen to your children’s concerns. Let them feel heard and understood.  Have a one-to-one conversation with them and listen to any concerns that might have. Once your child feels safe with you, they learn to trust you in every situation which is essential for their mental health.

2. Encourage physical activity

Physical health and good mental health are strongly correlated. Encourage your child to get exercise regularly or engage in other physical activities such as swimming, cycling, or whichever activity they love doing. Such activities uplift their energy, mood, and mental health.

3. Teach Your Child The Art of Positive Self-Talk

Teach your child how to engage in positive self-talk with themselves. This changes how they view the situation and help manage their feelings and response behavior. For example, “Come down, It’s now worth getting into an argument over this.”,  “I am going to relax and it will pass.” and “I can do this.”

4. Encourage Your Child to Build Meaningful Friendships

Encourage your child to make new friends at school and around the neighborhood. You could also enroll them in a summer camp or classes of activities that they enjoy such as skating and swimming. Meet their friends and get to know the kind of influence they will have on your child.

5. Discipline Without Labeling

Practice gentle parenting. When disciplining your child, avoid using mean words like stupid, dumb, or calling them bad. This leads to the child feeling like they can’t do anything right or that they are not good enough for you. Instead, correct your child’s wrong behavior by explaining why their action was inappropriate and encouraging them to give it another try when they feel ready.  This gives them the push to want to correct their mistake and do better.

6. Be Generous With Praise

Make it a point to always praise good behavior. Praise your children more than you reprimand them. Constant criticism will only lower your child’s self-esteem and make them feel like they can’t get anything right which is detrimental to their mental health. Praising your child whenever they have done a good deed boosts mental health.

7. Journaling 

Journaling is an excellent coping strategy when dealing with big emotions. It may also help improve your child’s social skills by encouraging self-reflection from a young age. It could be as simple as writing three things that they are grateful for at the end of each day.

8. Get Professional Help If Needed

 

It is very important to spend enough time with your child so that you can easily recognize when they need professional help. Most parents tend to shy off when they notice that their child might need more help than what they have to offer. Addressing mental health concerns earlier on in life is the best thing you can do for your child. Children who grew up with good mental health tend to become responsible adults who know how to manage their emotions well.

You can also read 7 Effective Classroom Management Strategies at Coast Academy