Making sure that your kid is getting the right amount of love and nutrition from the food that he or she eats is important and crucial, it is the only thing parents would have wanted for their children, but sometimes parents forget that mental health assessment of their kids is necessary and an important step in parenting.
Mental health, regardless of age, should be an important topic to talk about especially in the comfort of our home, due to the increase in social media campaigns in the hopes of bringing mental health issues into the light, it can be, however, uncomfortable when you’re dealing it with your child.
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That is the reason why when dealing with such complications, experts advise to keep it subtle, especially directly confronting kids about their psychological well-being may result in misunderstanding, it is best to have activities that relate to the kid’s mental health, it helps you assess the child, better and help them create a safe space for them.
What is mental health?
Mental Health to simply put is the overall emotional, psychological and social health and well-being of a person, these three often intertwined with one another and it greatly affects the way we deal with things and how we react to them, mental health corresponds to how we think, feel and act.
Mental health is just as important as the physical health people take care of so much, that’s why it’s necessary for people to prioritize mental health just as physical health.
There is a great number of activities that can promote their mental health in a way that you can assess them carefully.
What are some good mental health activities for children?
Here are some of the most valuable and strategic mental health activities that are beneficial to the psychological well being of the child.
Practice Gardening with your Kids
If you have a wonderful lot at your home, it’s a good time for you to ask your kids to help you build a garden by planting, gardening in general boosts mental creativity, boosts the child’s compassion and attention towards other beings and not only that, it strengthens the family’s bonding and relationship, gardening will also help you create a clean air environment around your house and have fresh fruits or veggies that you can eat! It is a win-win situation!
Be Physically Active with your Kids
Studies have shown that physical activities that range from low intensity to rigorous can provide physical health and surprisingly, improve mental health, physical activities have been shown to improve mental capacity and prevent the onset or progression of mental disorders such as depression.
Letting and encouraging your kids to be physically active with you encourages better joint, muscle and heart development and at the same time, it decreases the stress hormone in your body making you and your kids more mentally healthy.
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There are many physical activities that parents like you can do with their children, some of these activities include:
- Walking or jogging
- Swimming
- Outdoor leisure or recreational activities (camping, rock climbing, biking)
- Games and sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball, lawn tennis)
Practice Yoga and Meditation with your kiddos!
Yoga and meditation may seem out of the stretch with the topic, but as it turns out, yoga and practicing daily meditation can have positive health impacts on the formation and regulation of the brain and the brain hormones specific to the target area.
Meditation, when practiced daily, can provide benefits such as lowered stress levels, increasing concentration, improving your outlook in life and prevents heart diseases.
Meditation can be done properly by teaching the kids on how to properly breathe along with guided imagery in a relaxed state, encouraging your kids to do these things will not only help them become more relaxed and positive, they also improve the attention span which is a great thing for them.
Limit your kids’ gadget use
Technology can be a wonderful thing for most people, modern technology has helped us become more efficient in the past few years.
However, technology is like two sides of the same coin, it can have positive and negative effects, the average condition of children’s use of mobile gadgets and other technological devices is alarming.
Considering that there are a lot of uncensored media on the internet from pornography, vulgar and obscene websites, not to mention how Social media uses beauty standard that lowers teenagers’ and children’s self-worth and self-esteem
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Always make sure to have clear rules of when to use and what sites should be covered, set this rule as early as now.
Always remember that your child’s mental health is at stake here and studies have shown how the overconsumption of social media and other media platforms could result in body image issues, depression, and envy.
Let your child socialize and interact with other people!
Whether you like it or not, no man is an island, isolation kills, it creates a mental dysmorphia around a person’s reality, having a great social life and interacting with other people is a healthy form of exercising your mind.
Whether your child is an introvert or an extrovert, or something in between, you should always encourage your child to be more attentive to other people’s ideas, your child doesn’t have to be the friendliest kid in the neighborhood, socializing can be a great way to build a strong social network.
Socializing has been proven to have numerous health benefits, having friends who know love you and supports you creates a healthy self-esteem and relieves stressors in the brain, socializing is a great mental health activity because it makes your kid feel like he or she belongs in a group and therefore there is a feeling of love, understanding, and acceptance.
Include daily affirmations in your kid’s life!
Affirmations or positive affirmations have been proven to increase the brain’s self-assurance which decreases the risk of negative thinking that could result in many disorders such as anxiety, psychosis, and depression.
Creating a positive-focused language on your child such as “Even if you failed the test, you’re still great and I know you will do better next time!”.
That kind of attitude can be more uplifting to your child’s mental health, the problem with many old generational parents is that they use a fear-based mentality in teaching their kids life lessons.
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Instead of propagating those negative thoughts and outlook on life, creating an affirmative language can be better for the child’s health, although this does not necessarily mean that you should never scold your child when he or she has done something wrong, what this step teaches is that there are better words to be used when correcting a child’s bad behavior.
Try incorporating affirmative messages in your home, this will promote utmost care and love to each and everyone in your family, it also encourages your child to open up instead of using the fear tactic which will make them just secretive and hard to pin down
Final notes
Mental health is a vital part of your child’s life, making sure that your child is getting enough love, care and support is necessary to have mental wellness, it makes your home environment more positive and loving.
Always remember, mental health activities mentioned above are not the only things that can help your child get the utmost care and assessment from his or her mental health.
Be mindful that any kind of family bonding is a form of mental health activity to the child, go watch a movie or travel together, bonding with your child is the most important ingredient of love and it all begins with you and your parenting choices.
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- Growth Mindset Activities for Kids
- Physical Education Activities Your Kids Must Try
- Super Bowl Activities Your Kids Will Surely Love!
