Talking and wellbeing
Finding a regular time in the day to talk with your child can support them to talk to you about any problems or challenges they might be facing.
- Find a quiet time in your daily routine, if possible, away from siblings, toys and screens!
- Encourage your child to tell you about their day, things that have gone well, and things that haven't.
- Tell them about your day too, and also tell them how they made you feel. For example, maybe you felt proud when they offered to share something with their sibling, or happy when they told you a story that made you laugh!
Support your child to learn to talk about their feelings too, this will really help them to manage their own emotions, and to understand the emotions of others.
Reading and wellbeing
If your child is facing a particular problem, reading a book that covers the subject could help them:
- Make sense of what they are going through
- Feel less alone
- Forget about stress and worry
- Learn to understand other points of view.
Other ways to help
- Visit your local library. It's free and a good place to search for books that cover a wide range of issues.
- Listening to audio books can help your child enjoy stories and gain the benefits of reading a book.
- Picture books can be a great way of talking about difficult topics with children, including older siblings.
- Read a funny book together to make your child laugh and feel happier.
- Reading before bedtime can help them to switch off from the day.
Drawing, writing and wellbeing
If your child has been through a distressing event, drawing or writing about the experience can be beneficial in helping them to process the incident.
- Drawing about an experience can sometimes support children to talk about it.
- Drawing and creative writing can help a child relax, improve their mood and improve their concentration, attention and imagination.
- Writing about happy events can be a good way for your child to preserve their happy memories, as well as being fun!
Good to know:
If your child’s wellbeing is suffering you can talk to your GP, or visit the Place2Be website for a list of organisations that provide support for parents.
