Living in a technologically enhanced world might seem easy, but growing up with a million distractions around you can be difficult. Owing to several factors, being a child in today’s world is far more challenging than the years before. Life was much simpler back then.
Today, many children find it tough to navigate through an ever-increasing and demanding education system. There are times when we all experience personal difficulties that may disrupt and bring confusion into our lives. It is quite normal to feel so, but children don’t understand these complex emotions.
Childhood and adolescence are critical stages of life for mental health since this is where major growth and development occurs. Children acquire cognitive and social-emotional skills that shape their future mental health, which is key to successfully assuming adult roles in society.
The quality of life during these years shapes their mentality and makes them who they are. Positive mental health focuses on developing nurturing environments where children can thrive and reach their optimal potential.
Let us understand what good mental health looks like.
What is Good Mental Health?
Everyone is born clueless and happy, but as you grow, you realize that the world is not that simple. Growing up is never easy and becomes questionable when we try to keep up with others around us and their expectations of us. Life never comes with an instruction booklet. Each one of us has to face the music we listen to.
We are responsible to decide what makes us the happiest in that situation. Happiness is the key ingredient to good mental health. We must empower children to have faith in themselves and their abilities because appreciation does wonders to a child’s growth.
Academics usually involve a significant commitment of time and effort and requires a disciplined routine to achieve success, which can be stressful. It’s important that in times of high stress, we have appropriate strategies in place to protect the mental health of our children.
Tips to Maintain Good Mental Health in Children
During the key developing years, apart from a healthy diet, children need unconditional love and support to become the best version of themselves. Love, security, and acceptance should be at the heart of family life. This builds a strong foundational comfort in their minds which is extremely necessary.
Children need to know that their love does not depend on accomplishments. Mistakes help them grow, and they must be expected and accepted. A stressful childhood affects their mentality and can be tough to overcome. You must set realistic goals for children to prevent them from overburdening.
Mental health and physical health are interconnected. Therefore proper nutrition can also help maintain a positive attitude. While it can be easy for parents to identify the requirements for a child’s physical health, the same might not be true for mental health.
Parents must create a nurturing environment at home and at school. Teacher’s have the biggest impact on a child’s development. Children tend to feel when something’s going on and can stress themselves out easily. When the teachers are able to maintain their mental health, the same is likely to reflect on the children.
Sarcastic remarks at an early age can be incredibly harmful to your child’s mental health. You must assure them that it’s okay and motivate them to improve themselves. Keep children away from the negativity as it can have irrepressible effects on the child’s mind.
Allow the child to make their own decisions and let them see it all the way through. This builds self-esteem and improves the mental stability of the children.
Maintaining good mental health is all about consistency. Ups and downs are quite common in life, but we must equip our children to be mentally strong whenever needed. Once they understand how the world works, they begin to adapt to everything, and good mental health is of the utmost importance during this growth.
At Great Principals, we hope to bring about a necessary change in the ways of Indian Education. Each new generation is far more capable than the last, and we owe it to evolution. But as humans evolve, we must transcend from our old ways and look at things from a different perspective, one that shapes the untapped minds of the children for the ever-growing world. We are here to capture the journeys of marvelous School Leaders and Principals through an interactive talk show. We hope to inspire the parents who are the true changemakers in a child’s growing life. Our goal is to bring about a much-needed change in the way we educate our kids. Feel free to check out our episodes on YouTube www.youtube.com/c/GreatPrincipals.
