Behaviour tracking can help mental wellness of children

With today's shifting dynamics, parents often struggle to assist their children since they are so busy with their everyday work life. Though parenting is a roller coaster journey, you may have some exquisite days that make you feel appreciative to be a parent to your child, especially when children learn new things and shine brightly in our digitally-driven world where everything revolves around technology. On the other hand, occasional dreadful days make you worry, does my child look up to me?

When dealing with behavioural changes, a child's mental health is equally as vital as physical health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one out of every five children is facing challenges related to mental or emotional well-being. While not all mental health concerns can be avoided, parents can play an essential role in keeping their child's mental health on track by recording behaviour changes that can assist them in channeling their child's mental well-being.

Mental health concerns in children

In our ever-changing world, being mentally healthy for children requires hitting developmental and emotional milestones, learning appropriate social skills, and self-regulation when challenges arise. Mentally healthy children have a higher quality of life and may perform successfully at home, school, and in their communities. Though childhood mental health issues can have long-term consequences for children's lives, continued issues without appropriate intervention put them at risk for a variety of bad outcomes, including school failure, interpersonal difficulties, mental disease, and physical sickness. As a result, the long-term cost of behavioural issues to children, families, and society is considerable and far-reaching.

According to expert studies, the earliest signs of behavioural issues can show as early as infancy and toddlerhood. While these issues may be temporary for some children, they continue in others and reflect clinically significant concerns. As a result, as the digital environment grows, so does the concern, since while utilising digital technology has perks, it also has cons that induce behavioural changes such as a loss in attention, personality changes, and patterns of interacting with the public. As a result, in order to prioritise a child's mental health, parents must make efforts to maintain their child as mentally healthy as possible.

Steps to consider for mental wellness

Effective communication

Communication between parents and children is critical for channeling healthy mental health. It is critical for parents to be able to speak with their children honestly and successfully. Open, effective communication benefits everyone in the family, not just the children. When parents and their children communicate well, their relationships improve dramatically.

If parents and children communicate well, their connections will be vital. This is especially essential because one of the primary concerns for most parents is their children's mental health, which constantly affects their happiness and success. As a result, one factor that helps to promote excellent mental health for both parents and children is a close-knit link between parents and children and also helps to ensure good mental health for the children is clear, regular, and effective communication.

Establishing healthy relationships by addressing things

Parents' relationships with their children are critical and having a strong relationship begins with building trust and managing things on time. One strategy to build trust is to provide them with a sense of protection and security by allowing them time and space to express their feelings and desires. This also includes satisfying a child's bodily and emotional needs, such as caring for them when they are hungry, thirsty, terrified, nervous, or unhappy. In this situation, the child expects their parents to always be open-minded, consistent, honest, and compassionate. Thus, in order to develop a good connection, parents must keep everything in mind.

Keep a tab on their daily routine

Today's children are more lured to digital devices than ever before, and parents are constantly struggling to keep them away. Furthermore, social media has been a source of concern for parents since children have recently grown hooked to these platforms, which can have an adverse effect on their mental wellness by making them aggressive and indifferent. All of this has a tremendous influence on children, since the information they are exposed to has an impact on their behaviour, as well as their general health and well-being. In this case, the parent must monitor their children's online and offline activities. Furthermore, parents can fix the timing on a child's internet usage, while there are numerous platforms that are aiding parents by enabling restrictions on the time to assist youngsters without jeopardising their physical and emotional health.

In a nutshell, the child may experience behavioural issues at any moment, particularly if they are going through a life transition. To channel their children's mental health, parents must reach out to them by tracking their behavioural changes.

(The author is the Founder & CEO, MyPeegu)