Mental and emotional health have become topics that we are able to talk more freely and openly about over the last ten years or so.
More and more, it is also being recognised that children have important mental health needs, regardless of what age they are, and they need to be provided with tools and resources in order to help themselves now and later in life.
Anxiety and stress have been on the rise in recent years, especially due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
A lot of children have been experiencing very uncertain and stressful times, and it has resulted in anxiety, stress, and fear.
This isn’t how we want our children to experience their lives.
We want them to be free, happy, and playful.
We can’t control how our children feel, to a certain extent, but there are a lot of things that we can do to provide the best environment possible for them and there are tools that we can equip them with to set them up to help themselves.
In this blog, we are going to talk about 3 of the most important things when it comes to raising a child who is relaxed and can deal with their anxiety as best as possible.
Remember that they hear and see more than you think
A big mistake is to think that your children can’t hear and see you being stressed, having arguments, or being down.
Children hear and see so much more than you would think you do, and they absorb a lot of the bad feelings that you or others in the house may be having.
You can’t hide anything negative from your children 100% of the time, but it’s important to only allow them to see and hear what is appropriate for their age, when possible.
When you can’t and something slips by, it’s key that you address the issue with your child, if they are old enough, and actively try and make them feel settled again.
Actively take time for relaxation and calm
Put some time in your and your child’s calendar each week to take some time out and relax. Getting into the habit of taking time to relax and unwind will help you both to get into a habit of doing so, and this will help your stress and anxiety levels stay consistently low throughout the year.
Life is stressful and things can get really tough at times, but we can help ourselves to deal with this by taking time out to de-stress and unwind. Then we can deal with problems when they arise from a much more even keel.
Provide relaxation tools
As early as you can, introduce your child to a range of relaxation tools.
This could be books about mental and emotional health, meditation tools, baby yoga, jogging or other exercises, swimming, deep breathing, or whatever you feel is appropriate and useful for them.
A lot of adults get to adulthood not knowing even how to relax and so find it harder to cope when stresses inevitably arise.
You can combat this early on by giving your child the tools they need to be able to handle life and all that comes with it.
The earlier the better on this one.
As we’ve said, we can’t guarantee that our children will have a relaxing and serene life, but we can give them a fighting chance at it.
