How can children help their parents

Remember, kids look to parents to know how to deal with stressful and anxiety-provoking situations. Make sure you not only address any mental health issues but also take time to relax and de-stress. Your kids learn by watching you. So make sure you set a positive example of how to deal with stressful situations and maintain good mental health. When parents have untreated mental health issues, children are more likely to develop mental health problems of their own. This means that if you are feeling down, have lost energy, or notice changes in your eating or sleeping habits, you should talk with your doctor. These symptoms could mean that you're struggling with depression or anxiety. Keep in mind that untreated mental illness may make family life inconsistent or unpredictable. It also can affect your ability to discipline your kids and may strain your relationship with your partner or other family members. When that happens, it can take a toll on your child's psychological well-being. What's more, children are at an even greater risk of developing mental illness when both parents have mental health problems. So, if you or your partner have a mental health problem, get treatment. Research shows when a parent receives therapy or medication to address mental illness, children’s mental health symptoms improve as well. If you live far away from loved ones, get creative and do what you can to encourage your kids to connect with them. Arrange a virtual visit with grandparents or e...

Sarah Vanbuskirk is a writer and editor with 20 years of experience covering parenting, health, wellness, lifestyle, and family-related topics. Her work has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, and websites, including Activity Connection, Glamour, PDX Parent, Self, TripSavvy, Marie Claire, and TimeOut NY. Set Positive Expectations It helps for parents and their children to set some good expectations, routines, and school year goals, suggests Maleka Allen, a Portland, Oregon school counselor with over 18 years of experience working with children of all ages in grades K-12. She recommends both parties think about what outcomes the student wants to work towards, whether that is reading chapter books, finishing Establish a Homework Routine It also helps to have a good routine of how, where, and when to do schoolwork. "Setting up a time and a good workspace is also very important," says Allen. She adds that homework done in a dedicated, distraction-free area (ideally out of the bed and bedroom) can foster improved homework completion as well as better sleep for kids. Note that despite much hype about the presumed positive link between messy, chaotic workspaces and creativity, researchers have failed to find a significant difference in creative output between those with a messy or clean workspace. Homework quantity and quality will vary quite a bit from student to student depending on their grade, learning style, and the school they go to. Generally, younger kids ma...

Raising kids is one of the toughest and most fulfilling jobs in the world — and the one for which you might feel the least prepared. These 9 child-rearing tips can help you feel more fulfilled as a parent. 1. Boost Your Child's Self-Esteem Kids start developing their sense of self as babies when they see themselves through their parents' eyes. Your tone of voice, your body language, and your every expression are absorbed by your kids. Your words and actions as a parent affect their developing Praising accomplishments, however small, will make them feel proud; letting kids do things independently will make them feel capable and strong. By contrast, belittling comments or comparing a child unfavorably with another will make kids feel worthless. Avoid making loaded statements or using words as weapons. Comments like "What a stupid thing to do!" or "You act more like a baby than your little brother!" cause damage just as physical blows do. Choose your words carefully and be compassionate. Let your kids know that everyone makes mistakes and that you still love them, even when you don't love their behavior. 2. Catch Kids Being Good Have you ever stopped to think about how many times you react negatively to your kids in a given day? You may find yourself criticizing far more often than complimenting. How would you feel about a boss who treated you with that much negative guidance, even if it was well-intentioned? The more effective approach is to catch kids doing something right:...

As a parent, a caregiver, a teacher, or even just a citizen of the world, what kind of people do you hope that today’s children grow up to be? Amid a life-altering pandemic and deep political divisions, we can likely all agree that the world would benefit greatly if children today learn to treat others well. From the GGSC to your bookshelf: 30 science-backed tools for well-being. These two programs are bringing parents and children together to teach them about important character strengths, from empathy to generosity, and then co-creating experiences for those families to practice the skills in the real world. Through these programs, parents are being empowered to help their children develop their character by learning how to be more kind and grateful in a world that desperately needs those qualities. Making kindness count For Dhaarmika Coehlo, founder of Camp Kindness Counts, kindness is built in the many small moments throughout our day. She vividly recalls an experience on a train in India, when she shared her newspaper with someone, who shared it with someone else, until the whole train car had gotten a chance to read it—and then it was promptly returned to her. This for her was a communal kindness she had never experienced before. When she had her first child more than 10 years later, the memory returned to her. “I remembered that moment of kindness, and it got me thinking, ‘How can we nurture a culture of kindness in our communities?’” This is how Camp Kindness Count...

Recent advances in the science of early childhood development offer us an unprecedented opportunity to solve some of society’s most challenging problems, from widening disparities in school achievement and economic productivity to costly health problems across the lifespan. Understanding how the experiences infants, toddlers, and pregnant women have can affect lifelong outcomes—combined with knowledge about the core capabilities adults need to thrive as parents and in the workplace—provides a strong foundation upon which policymakers, service providers, and civic leaders can design a shared and more effective agenda. The science of child development and the core capabilities of resilient adults point to a set of “design principles” that policymakers and practitioners in many different sectors can use to improve outcomes for children and families. To be maximally effective, policies and services should: • • • The principles point to a set of key questions: What are current policies, systems, or practices doing to address each principle? What could be done to address them better? What barriers prevent addressing them more effectively? Grounded in science, these three principles can guide decision-makers as they choose among policy alternatives, design new approaches, and shift existing practice to best support building healthy brains and bodies. The principles point to a set of key questions: What are current policies, systems, or practices doing to address each principle? W...

We are in the midst of a pediatric mental health crisis — and parents need to take action. Over the past couple of years, the pandemic has not only killed hundreds of thousands; it has also shut us inside, cut off social contacts, taken parents out of work and children out of school. The consequences have been tremendous. And one of those consequences is that we are seeing alarming amounts of anxiety and depression in our children and teens. A national emergency among children and teens In the fall of 2021, the American Academy of Pediatrics along with the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Children's Hospital Association declared These are all necessary, and efforts to ensure them are ongoing. But while we work to build mental health care systems, there are things that parents can do to help their children through this crisis. Mental health is just as important as physical health First and foremost, we must understand that. If a child has a fever or a persistent cough, parents react — they pay attention and reach out for help. But if a child seems sad or irritable, or less interested in activities they used to enjoy, they tend to think of it as a phase, or teen angst, or something else that can be ignored. The mental health of our children is crucial. Not only does mental health affect physical health, but untreated mental health problems interfere with learning, socialization, self-esteem, and other important aspects of child development that can...