Children’s Mental Health Week – This is My Place
This week we have been supporting Children’s Mental Health Week and working with the boys within the theme for the week ‘This is My Place’.
To know our place and really feel part of our environment is a basic human need. It can have powerful and long-lasting impacts in lots of areas of our lives, including our physical and mental health, education, employment and relationships. When we feel that we belong, it empowers us to contribute to the world and make a real difference and plays a vital role in our mental health and wellbeing.
Children of all ages crave consistency, predictability, structure, safety and connection, and all of these form part of a feeling that we belong – where children can know that ‘this is my place’.
Simple things that you can do at home:
- Help children to recognise their emotions by noticing, naming and accepting the feelings and emotions that they are currently experiencing – this helps children feel listened to rather than shamed or misunderstood.
E.g. 'I’m sorry that this has happened, I can see that it’s made you feel sad' or 'this homework looks tricky; I can see that you look frustrated'.
- Enjoy and embrace family traditions. This could be a pizza then a board game on a Saturday night or curling up in bed together for a story every evening. These family rituals help children to feel part of something more than just themselves.
- Praise with ‘See it and Say it’. Praising or acknowledging children for their effort, their values, their attitude and their contribution rather than for their performance or its outcome, helps them to build their internal sense of self-worth. Children will then learn to recognise that we see them for who they are, not purely what they have achieved.
- Repair the ruptures. Revisiting and repairing after tricky moments, reminds children that they still belong even when things go awry. Done consistently, repairing after conflict or rupture builds children’s sense of safety, belonging and security. It’s also great modelling to show children that we all make mistakes, and that we take ownership and apologise and repair.
- Encourage contribution and inclusion. We all develop a greater sense of belonging when we feel involved, useful and included. Asking for our children’s input, giving them age-appropriate family chores and giving them the opportunity to make certain decisions all help them feel respected, seen, competent and connected.
