Wellbeing is a popular term nowadays but what does it mean and how can we ensure our children have it? Our physical, mental, emotional and social health are all equally important and all contribute to our wellbeing. As parents, educators and childcare workers, it is important that we foster this in our children from an early age.
Through being good role models for our children and developing positive thinking and behavior patterns in them we can help improve our children’s wellbeing, as well as teach them lifelong skills to maintain this into their adult life.
1. Physical activity
Exercise is essential for everyone, especially children. There are a lot of benefits gained from exercising, including that it fosters a positive mood and releases the stress of the day. After a day of thinking, children need to be outside in the fresh air either playing sport or simply playing.
2. Technology time
There is so much technology available to children nowadays but it is important to limit the time children spend having screentime. It is easy to use technology as a babysitting device but children should be restricted to a maximum of two hours per day, which includes television, computers, iPads et cetera. Setting clear and consistent guidelines from an early age makes it much easier to reinforce these limits. Most technology has timers so it easy for children to know when their time is up!
3. Foster positive relationships
Developing positive relationships with others is very important for children’s wellbeing. The benefits from time spent with friends and family is that they learn to share, compromise and listen, as well as develop conflict resolution skills. Fostering these relationships as a child will also help them maintain relationships in their adult life.
4. Sleep
Sleep is an important element in maintaining good mental and physical wellbeing. Ensuring your child gets enough sleep each night is one of the most important practices you can develop as a parent. It is never too late to establish a night time routine. This may include a bath, reading a story or listening to quiet music. Make sure the technology gets turned off one or two hours before bedtime to allow your child’s brain to unwind and relax.
5. Build resilience
Being resilient is one of the most important qualities to develop in children. The ability to learn from mistakes and accept feedback, be persistent and not give up easily will help maintain a positive wellbeing in children. Through modelling these qualities yourself, parents and educators can help children bounce back and move past mistakes and problems. Letting go is one of the best ways to maintain a healthy wellbeing.
What happens at St Benedict’s?
Rainbows and SunBeams
We are pleased to announce an addition to our School programme. We now offer support groups for any child who is expressing any difficulty or distress due to a change within their family circumstance or any painful loss. This programme is called RAINBOWS.
When something significant happens in a family, the entire family is affected. Even though death, divorce or other loss issues (such as marital breakdown) appear to be only grown-up problems, they do have a profound effect on the children who are touched by such experiences. If a parent dies, a divorce happens, or some other painful loss occurs, not only do the parents grieve, the children do also. Children may find it extremely difficult to verbalise their feelings of grief because of their age and inexperience.
We have some very sensitive, caring and trained adults who have said “yes” to helping these children put their feelings into words, work through their grief, build a stronger sense of self-esteem, and begin to accept what has taken place in the family.
If your child has experienced the death of a loved family member, friend or sibling, or is struggling through a painful experience, this will be an opportunity for him/her to share with a special someone.
To support our younger children in Reception and Year 1, there is also a group call Sunbeams. This is modelled on the Rainbows programme but uses age appropriate resources. Through SunBeams, children will have the opportunity to grieve the loss in their family and develop appropriate coping mechanisms for life.
Part of the SunBeams programme involves using activities such as puppets, especially designed to help them express their feelings and to learn new coping strategies. The sessions include the following subjects: Self, Divorce and Death, Anger, Family, Belonging, Trust and Coping Tools.
If you think that you may be interested in either of these programmes, or would just like some further information, please see Mrs Noble or Miss Fountain (co-ordinator) for more details.
Young Carers
At St Benedict’s we believe that all children and young people have the right to an education regardless of what is happening at home. When a child looks after a friend or someone in their family with a history of long term physical or mental health illness, a disability or alcohol or substance abuse the young person may need some extra support to help them get the most out of school.
A Young Carer may undertake some or all of the following:
- Practical tasks
- Physical care
- Personal and intimate care
- Emotional support
- Household management
- Looking after siblings
- Interpretation
- Administering medication
St Benedict’s is committed to identifying the needs of Young Carers and supporting Young Carers’ access to a full education, working in partnership with their families.
We are building strong links with https://thejunctionfoundation.com/servi
ces/young-carers/. This work is supporting us to help young people, families and our school community to identify Young Carers and safeguard them in an appropriate way.
Insideout mental health support
The InsideOut team will work with, and in, schools, delivering the whole school approach to mental health and wellbeing and will support children and young people experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues.
Further information can be found https://www.insideoutmhst.co.uk/services/
