Supporting our child
Childhood and teenage years are critical periods for our child to develop important skills to thrive and form healthy relationships with others. As parents or caregivers, we want to support their mental health, just as we would for their physical health. This can help them develop resilience and grow to become well-rounded adults.
Read on to find out how we can better support our child’s mental health and well-being.
Tips on supporting our child
Children have different ways of communicating at different stages. When checking in with
them, it can be helpful to communicate in a manner that is appropriate for their age.
Here are some tips on how to do so:
Be patient and attentive
Try taking the time to listen to their feelings, thoughts and needs before offering solutions.
When we do that, it helps our child to know that they are heard and understood, encouraging them to be more open in sharing their problems in future.
Be mindful of how we communicate
The way we communicate can affect our child’s willingness to open up to us. When interacting with them, it can help to be mindful of our tonality and communicate in a way that is appropriate for their age.
At this stage, they are still developing their language skills.
- We can encourage them to share their feelings through storytelling. For instance, we can create a fictional character using soft toys and ask them to describe how the soft toy is feeling. Our child’s response can be a representation of their actual thoughts and feelings.
- We can also observe their body language and facial cues by seeing if they respond to a certain question by frowning, smiling, nodding or shaking their heads.
- Avoid open-ended questions that could make them feel flustered. For example, if we sense our child feeling down after school, rather than asking “How was your day today?”, we could ask them “Did you have a fun day today?”.
- Speak slowly and clearly so that our child can understand us.
- Avoid speaking loudly as our child might interpret a loud tone as anger directed towards them.
At this stage, they may become more self-conscious and worried about what others might think of them.
- Maintain a gentle and calm tone when speaking to them to show that we are receptive to what they are sharing.
- Equip ourselves with tips on how to better support our teen’s emotional health.
Different mental health challenges
Like all of us, our child may experience life changes that can affect their mental health and well-being. As a parent, we can learn about some of the mental health challenges they may face so that we can better support them.
Having sufficient sleep allows our child to learn at their best. We can help our child obtain better sleep by providing a conducive environment and developing a consistent sleep routine.
Click here to read more about how we can help them adopt good sleep habits.
Key changes in our child’s life, such as puberty and transitioning to a new school, may bring about stress. We can help them learn how to better manage stress before it overwhelms them.
Click here to find out about some tips on how to help our child cope with stress.
As our child enters adolescence, we may see some changes in their behaviour. While some of these are expected, others could be signs that they are struggling emotionally. If their struggle becomes too much to handle, some might consider extreme measures such as self-harm for temporary relief or even suicide to end their pain.
Let’s try to spot the warning signs of self-harm and suicide, so that we can reach out to provide them with the support they need. Take any mention of suicide seriously and remember that help is always available. Click here to learn more about self-harm and suicide, and how we can help our child cope.
It is normal to feel sad occasionally but if we notice that our child feels down over an extended period, this could be a sign that they are suffering from depression.
To better support them, we can learn more about what they are going through and when to seek help. Click here to find out more about depression.
OCD is one of the top three most common mental health disorders and it can cause distress and anxiety for our child. We can learn more about OCD to understand what they are going through and when to seek help. Click here to find out more.
It is normal to feel anxious at times but excessive anxiety for our child could be a sign of anxiety disorder. We can learn more about anxiety disorder and when to seek help to better support them in managing it. Click here to learn more.
Taking care of our child while juggling our own life demands can take a toll on our physical and mental well-being. Ultimately, the lack of self-care will make it more challenging for us to care for our child.
Practising and prioritising self-care will allow us to recharge and put us in a better state to provide our child with the support they need. Take a look at some tips on managing stress and emotions to keep ourselves healthy.