Teaching Your Children About Self-Care

 Contributed post

Self-care is a topic that many people struggle to grasp, especially when they need it most. Learning to properly take care of your own needs is something that we could all be doing better, and there’s no better time to learn than when you’re children. The sooner your children learn to take care of their own needs, or at least identify what they need - the better. A lack of self-care can lead to anxiety and depression later on in life, without an easy way to improve on the situation. So how can you teach your children something that many adults are struggling to grasp?

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Speaking up

First of all, your children at younger ages aren’t going to be very capable of handling their own needs, so it’s important that you encourage them to speak up when something is wrong. It could be aches or pains, or concerns that they have. Let them address it and go through it with them, and then talk to them about what they should do, or what you’re going to help them do. If it’s physical pains, you’ll want to take them to a doctor or a pediatric chiropractor. Without your input, they may think that it’s normal and not worth acknowledging - so make sure to let them know that they should speak up when something feels off.

Physical activities

It can be difficult to convey to your children how important it is to keep their bodies active, and you have to find other ways to go about it. Your children aren’t going to understand the direct reasoning of it at a young age, but you can still encourage them to take up and pursue fun physical activities for them to enjoy. It can be a lot of trial and error finding them something that they're interested in, but it will be worth it once they find something they enjoy. These habits are very impactful if learned early, as taking up and getting used to regular physical activities can be difficult to get into the swing of later in life.

The importance of downtime

Although many children out there don’t have much to worry about, life concerns are generally off of the table - they’re still prone to stress. New activities can be overwhelming, and doing too much can cause negativity. Teach your children that it’s good to take a few moments to relax, and there’s nothing wrong with needing a breather from time to time. Even if they may not realize it, everyone has a limit, and you should encourage your children to not push themselves too far past theirs.

Embracing creativity

Taking part in creative projects can help to take the mind away from your usual concerns, and learning it as a child can be a great way to get a headstart on creative development and skills. Finding artistic activities that your children enjoy might sound like a nightmare if your children have never shown interest in it before, but there really is something for everyone. It could be writing stories, it could be drawing or painting, it could even be playing an instrument.