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Your Child’s Social-Emotional Wellness

Many of us hoped that life would look different as we stepped into 2021. While hope is on the horizon, we may be struggling with the continued life of isolation we experience. Make your family’s social emotional wellness a priority. Give an honest look at how your family’s mental health looks currently and craft a plan on how to improve it. Don’t get stuck waiting for thing’s to go back to normal, instead improve life the way it looks right now. Check out our Daily Wellness Schedule for ideas.

Know the Signs of Mental Health Concerns:

• Problems with concentration, memory, or ability to think clearly
• Changes in appetite
• Feeling sad, empty, hopeless, or worthless
• Loss of interest in things they used to enjoy
• Loss of self esteem
• Irritability or restlessness
• Changes in sleep
• Dramatic decline in academic performance
• Not wanting to be around people or participate

How can I help?

• Support Social Interaction. In previous years, you may have rolled your eyes when your child opted to chat on the phone or online with their friends that they had just spent all day with, but now those moments to connect are fewer and further between. Encourage your child to spend some time each day connecting with their friendships.
• Talk. Ask your kiddos frequently how they’re doing. How are their friends doing? What they think of their teacher, etc. Don’t press for the type of answer you are looking for, just asking the question is beneficial. Create a culture of sharing challenges by modeling yourself how you can share pain points calmly without complaining. Here is a video to help explain wellness to kids.
• Reframe Challenges. When your child does start to complain about frustrations, hear them out and empathize but also look for the hidden opportunities these frustrations provide to learn and grow. Applaud them for the growth you see in them, despite the challenging circumstances. Your kiddos will be more resilient because of this.
• Lean on Your Community. Who is your community? Your family, church, sports team, neighbors? Allow your children to see that their community extends beyond school walls.
• When further help is needed, talk with your Shandy Clinic therapist. We would love to connect you with some excellent partners in the community who specialize in mental health.

Consider your own wellness: We can often forget that our own social emotional wellness is just as important as our children’s. You model what social emotional wellness looks like for your family. Take time to connect with friends, prioritize self care, talk about your feelings, meet with a counselor. This is caring for your children well.

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