How to teach children about self-care – Growing Family

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Taking care of yourself is not a bad thing – it’s actually a basic human need. Without self-care, your mental health and happiness can suffer. 

As a parent, it’s important to help your child learn to take care of themselves and others. You can do this by introducing them to simple self-care tasks, and doing nurturing things as a family. With that in mind, here are some simple ways to teach children about self-care.

Develop good routines

Routine is very important for children’s growth. It can offer them a sense of security and help them understand their place in the world. If they can predict what will happen during the day, it will help them feel less anxious and make it easier to move from one day to the next.

Creating a healthy routine for the whole family is a good way to teach children about self-care. This can be as simple as planning a time each day to “slow down.” It could be a time when everyone in the family puts away their phones and tablets, turns off the TV, and reads, draws, plays a quiet game, or enjoys nature. These calm activities can help a child’s brain develop the ability to be mindful.

Give them a place to go

If there’s one thing you probably know about self-care is that it can be best to do it alone – although that’s not always the case, of course. Taking some time to be by yourself, to gather your thoughts, relax, and feel safe and secure can be very beneficial. This is why your child’s bedroom is so important. It’s their safe place, and it gives them somewhere to go when they need to be alone. 

The best thing to do is to make the bedroom as comfortable and relaxing as possible. Look at kids’ room furniture from Tylko for examples of the layout you can achieve. It’s also a good idea to let your children help design the room. Finally, make sure they know they can go to their room whenever they need to for some quiet time. If they ever need to be punished, don’t send them to their room, or they’ll stop feeling so happy and safe there.

Talk about emotions

A big part of taking care of yourself is looking after your mind and feelings. Talking to your child about emotions is a great way to help them learn how to recognise and deal with their feelings.

When your child gets angry or is sad, talk to them about how they feel, and help them figure out how to deal with these big emotions. If you help your child understand their feelings, they will know how to deal with them as an adult – and this is a valuable tool that they will use for the rest of their life.

Do you have any tried-and-tested ways to teach children about self-care?