Every parent hopes their child will be as healthy and happy as possible. While parenting never comes with a handbook and all kids are different, there are ways to ensure your child has their best shot at mental and physical wellness. If you’re a parent looking to ensure your child’s overall well-being, read on.
Regular Check Ups and Testing
Routine check-up exams and visits to specialists if something is off are the most obvious ways of taking care of your child’s health. Whether it’s hearing tests for children who are struggling to hear a teacher from the back row, or vision tests for kids who can’t see the chalkboard, attending routine visits will point you in the direction so that you can fend off problems.
Maybe you suspect they have hearing loss or visual issues. Clues that they’re having hearing or vision issues can be in the child’s behavior or social skills. The only way to know is a hearing screening, hearing evaluation, or eye exam. It’s best to know now so you can get your child help. Your child’s hearing and vision impact your child’s ability to function in the world. By giving your kids the proper tools they need to thrive, you’ll be going a long way to ensure better health no matter what your child’s age.
Mental Wellness
Whether you’re raising a child with behavioral needs or watching your kid experience bullying, mental health matters, too. For your child to be and feel their best, you don’t want to forget about their mental wellness. Pediatricians, child therapists, psychologists and behavioral health specialists are all trained to help with big things like behavior problems or autism or smaller concerns like bad moods or tantrums you just aren’t sure about.
From behavioral tests to testing your child’s development, these psychologists will easily be able to distinguish the difference between something like oppositional defiant disorder in a young adult verses bad behavior in a younger child. The best part is that they will work with not only your child, but with you to facilitate positive change in your parent-child relationship and parenting style. Trained to provide behavior management and give you tools to implement at home, professionals can show you how to encourage positive behavior at both home and school.
Social Activities
Children are as social as any other human being. For developmental milestones and in order to be their best selves, it’s important that you provide your kids with a variety of social outlets. While it may take a village to raise a child, for a kid to be happy, it takes a tribe. That is, for your child to succeed and build a strong self esteem, they will need peers who not only challenge them but play with them too. Offering your child social outlets and extracurricular activities will go a long way in helping your child grow up healthy and happy.
Some underestimate the importance of social outlets for younger children. But early childhood is exactly when you want to get started. From enrolling your kid in a toddler age group playdate club to finding sports teams for young kids to play on, you’re doing them a favor by getting them involved. Kids need more than family members to practice critical developmental skills.
Education
While different from obvious ways of ensuring your child is healthy, it’s important to remember that providing your child with an education will give them a solid foundation to rely on and more. That is, academic performance counts. It works to build self esteem and a sense of self sufficiency. Supporting your kids in school, whether by attending parent conferences, showing up for the school play, or calling their teachers to communicate when they are struggling, are all important things you can do to ensure your child’s overall wellness. And don’t give up on this as they move through school. Older children and adolescents need academic support even more than younger kids.
While most will think of the school nurse when considering how education can impact health, it goes a lot further than bandages or someone to call home when you child’s not feeling well. The truth is that teachers can also be gatekeepers to your child’s health. Because teachers get to know our kids in classrooms, they can often spot signs of your child’s behavior changing and even notice symptoms of a kid getting sick before we do. Teachers and school administrators can often be front row audiences to our child’s health.
In the end, it’s easy to support a child if you pay attention to the things that matter to them most. By paying attention to more than just their symptoms and keeping them engaged and knowing when to ask for help, you’ll be helping their overall wellness and bonding with them as well.
