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Children’s mental health week: Ways to boost your child’s mental wellbeing
Every parent wants their children to be happy and healthy. While proper nutrition and exercise play an important role in your children’s physical health, it’s almost important to help them become fit mentally. As parents, we can encourage this in our kids from a young age. In this Pacific Prime Singapore article, we’ll take a look at ways to boost your child’s mental wellbeing.
Spend quality time together
One way you can show your child how important they are to you is by making time for them. You can enjoy activities like playing games or have fun watching movies they enjoy together. Aside from being enjoyable, spending time together teaches important skills such as how to share and listen.
Listen to them
Really listen to your children when they speak and give them your undivided attention. You can find out how they’re coping by asking them about their day, friends, teachers, and school activities. You can give them advice or even help them out at times.
Don’t use labels
Using labels such as stupid, naughty or lazy to discipline your child isn’t helpful since it doesn’t help them learn acceptable behavior. Explaining how their action was inappropriate is a much healthier way of correcting negative behavior. Children can learn to become more mindful of what they’re doing when you tell them you love them, but do not approve of their behavior.
Teach them to be positive
It’s important to teach your child to think positively and maintain an optimistic outlook when they’re dealing with difficulties. Doing so will increase their self-worth, self-confidence, and self-esteem and also help them bounce back from problems and failures. It will also help them to stay motivated and keep pushing.
Watch your expectations
Comparing your child to others and making them feel like they failed when they don’t do well is not helpful. It lowers their feelings of self-worth and morale, which can cause them to become less motivated to do their best and less willing to learn. You can commend their efforts and talk about ways they can improve their performance.
Work on their strengths
It’s beneficial for children to explore their strengths from an early age. You can help them by encouraging them to try different hobbies, activities, and sports. Let them know that everyone has different strengths and excel at different things and remind them to be proud of theirs.
Encourage independence
Help your child take responsibility by giving them manageable tasks that they can finish on their own. Make sure to express your approval when they complete it. If they have any problems, you can discuss how they can go about it next time.
Support their friendships
Encourage your child to make friends in the playground, at school, and in their after school activities. You can let them know you care about their friendships by inviting their friends over so you can get to know them.
Encourage them to be physically active
Physical and mental health go hand in hand. Make sure your child understands the importance of drinking enough water, eating healthy food, getting some sunlight and resting enough. These are some of the best things they can do to boost their mood and energy.
Help them learn how to manage stress
Show your child how to reduce stress levels by joining them in relaxing activities such as walking in nature, reading, writing, cooking, listening to music, enjoying hobbies or anything else they are interested in that can help them unwind.
Promote relaxation
In a similar way to showing your child healthy ways to manage stress, you can encourage them to do things they enjoy when they need to relax and take their mind off issues. This might involve listening to music or spending time with friends. You can also teach them relaxation techniques such as breathing exercises and meditation.
Set a good example
Children notice everything and learn by simply watching their parents, regardless of whether they’re a young child or an older teen. If you use healthy coping skills to deal with stress, your child will see this and they will imitate it. You can help them see that stress is a normal part of life and it can be handled calmly and effectively, such as by meditating or jogging.
Teach them to talk to themselves positively
Positive self-talk is so important, which is why it is ideal for children to learn how to do so from a young age. It can impact the way they see a situation and help manage their behavior and feelings. Some examples of positive self-talk saying, “I will not let this bother me” or “I’m alright”.
Aside from the tips mentioned above, remember that a child who is healthy and happy is likely to find it easier to concentrate at school and overcome challenges in life. What’s more, their higher immunity levels also means they won’t get sick as often.
Stay healthy with health insurance
Secure family health insurance to ensure that you and your loved ones are always covered. Our team of experts at Pacific Prime can help you find the ideal health plan and customize it to suit every member of your family. By working with the best international health insurance companies in Singapore and across the globe, we can also help you find the best individual health insurance, pre-existing condition insurance and more.
For more information, contact us or visit our website to receive a no-obligation, free quote today.
Jantra curates and reports on the results of Pacific Prime’s monthly newsletters, as well as manages Pacific Prime’s Deputy Global CEO’s LinkedIn posts. Complemented by her background in business writing, Jantra’s passion for health, insurance, and employee benefits helps her create engaging content - no matter how complex the subject is.
Growing up as a third-culture kid has given her a multicultural perspective that helps her relate to expats and their families while 8 years of working remotely have given her unique insight into hybrid work arrangements and enthusiasm for employee benefits.
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