10 Ways to Boost Your Child’s Mental Health

1. Spend time together

Making time for your child will make them feel that they are important to you. Have fun while doing activities together like watching a movie or playing games that they enjoy.

2. Be attentive to what they say

Give your child your full attention and listen to them. Ask them about their friends, teachers and the activities they do in school to find out how they are coping. Offer them advice or help where appropriate.

Related: Positive Attention and Your Child

3. Be generous with praise

Children are often reprimanded for bad behaviour but rarely praised for good behaviour. As a result, they may come to believe that they can never be good enough.

Praise your child whenever they have done a good deed no matter how small. This helps them feel good about themselves.

Related: Praise, Encouragement and Rewards

4. Discipline without labelling

When disciplining your child, avoid using words like lazy, naughty or stupid as such phrases do not reinforce what acceptable behaviour is.

Instead, correct your child’s wrong behaviour by explaining why their action was inappropriate. Telling them that you love them but do not agree with their behaviour can make them more mindful of their actions.

5. Have realistic expectations

Avoid comparisons and do not make them feel like a failure when they do not do well. This will lower their morale and self-worth which may make them less eager to learn and less motivated to try their best. Instead, praise them for their efforts and discuss how to improve their performance step by step.

6. Teach your child to think positively

It is important to teach your child to be positive and remain optimistic when faced with difficulties. This helps to boost their self-esteem and self-confidence as well as help them recover from setbacks and failures, and continue to be motivated to work hard.

7. Focus on their strengths

Help your child explore their strengths. Encourage them to try different activities and hobbies. Explain to them that different people have different strengths and are good at different things, and they should be proud of what they are good at. Knowing their strengths is important for your child’s mental well-being.

8. Teach your child to be independent

Another parenting tip – entrust your child with manageable tasks to complete by themselves. Praise them when they finish their tasks so they feel good about completing them. If they face troubles, acknowledge and support their efforts and tell them what they can do differently next time.

9. Encourage your child to build meaningful friendships

Encourage your child to make new friends at school, in the playground or during activities they do after school. Show that you care for their friends by inviting classmates to your house to get to know them better.

10. Teach your child how to relax

Encourage your child to do something enjoyable to take their mind off their problems. It may be playing outdoors with friends or listening to music. You can also teach them to relax by getting them to close their eyes and think of happy thoughts – like a day by the beach or playing with friends.