Back to School: Emotional Wellness for our kids!

Man – it’s just about 3 weeks of being back into school and it feels like we’ve been there for weeks on end! Anyone else feeling the same?

So, in an earlier blog I spoke about the importance of nourishing their bodies with REAL food for fuel, well, we also need to nourish their souls and emotional well-being – equally as important.

In psychology it is believed that we have determined our identity and belief system by the age of 7! So as adults we are living with either empowering or self sabotaging belief systems that have been ingrained into our psyche before we are even able to understand what they mean – this is a huge concept so sit with this for a little and really grasp it.

When I first learned this – I panicked as I thought I’ve missed the boat on one kid and am just about to miss it with the other – talk about pressure like we don’t have enough of it today in the modern world.

Thankfully the boat is never missed when you are open to the evolution of learning and becoming your best self, and ultimately the best teacher to our kids. It’s about being self aware and course correcting CONSTANTLY.

With this in mind, how can we as mum’s enable the emotional well-being of our kids?

On a practical level:

• Nutrition – this is key and essential to fuel the body with nutrients to give it any hope of functioning optimally, not to mention core functionality of the cells & the brain. Many mental ailments and conditions can be the symptom of nutritional deficiencies
• Sleep – This is when the body is performing it’s biggest role of repairing and healing. Therefore crucial that they get age appropriate volume of sleep. Sleep is also essential for the immune system and emotional resilience.
• Water – They need water and plenty of it. Not only is water essential for the brain and the nervous system (the brain is made of over 75% water), but just the smallest drop of hydration within the body can lead to a drop in energy & mood levels
• Exercise to release all the happy hormones

7 recommendations/suggestions to manage their emotional wellness:

1. Help them feel loved, secure and confident. Talk to them in THEIR love language. You read more about that here.
2. Help them to identify their feelings as best they can, if possible why they feel that way or what’s behind the feeling. Here is a great tool I found online to help you, help them identify their emotions. This truly is half the battle
3. Equip them with tools to help manage the emotions and feelings such as:
   • Deep breathes when in a heightened state of emotion – resets the nervous system
   • If they are old enough, I'd say from age 7 – get them to write on paper how they are feeling and why. In neuroscience this is believed to help relief the emotional charge on a situation
   • Use tools such as EFT, otherwise known as tapping. More info on this here.
4. Help them to recognise the power of the little voice in their heads, also known as self-talk and how this can either empower their world or could be the slowest form of torture
5. Teach them to show gratitude EVERY SINGLE day. This is non negotiable in my household. It’s amazing what they come up with when they are stuck for something. Some of the answers just melts my heart
6. Get them in a mindfulness practice daily. This does not mean that they are sitting and meditating in a corner saying “Om” for 20 minutes, but helping them become aware of the present moment. Examples are:
   • Using an app to do a guided breathing exercise for 3-5 minutes. I really like Smiling Mind or Headspace, easily downloaded from the App store.
   • Colouring in, even better you if do it with them - this has to be one of my favourites
   • Sitting quietly in a nature, feet on the grass and recognise the sounds and surroundings, again only needs to be a few minutes
   • Engage them in any activity they truly enjoy and help them recognise moments of joy during that activity
7. Lastly, but more importantly – this may sting a little, but YOU become emotionally resilient and learn the tools how to do this, then you can be an EFFECTIVE teacher. Our kids learn by what we DO, NOT by what we SAY. They will model what they see being practiced. So the key here is to become very self aware yourself. This is not easy, but so worth it!

The above list not exhaustive, but just a small snippet of some strategies to help build emotional resilience and wellness for our children, especially in the age we are currently in.

Adjuncts to promoting emotional wellness

The below list serves as examples of adjunct therapies that can assist the promotion of emotional wellness. I do not believe that any one of these should be used in isolation or be seen as the magic bullet to fixing a symptom, but rather as an addition to the fundamentals listed above in the practical section:

• Essential Oils
• Massage
• Chiropractic or Osteopathic treatment
• Bush Flower essence
• Homeopathics
• Kinesiology

If you are concerned for the emotional well-being for your child, then please seek additional help and guidance from a qualified practitioner.

Chantal is a Certified Nutrition & Wellness Coach with a special interest in helping families implement Gut Healing Nutritional Protocols using a proven step by step wholistic approach to improve the health of their family.