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In today's fast-paced world, it's essential to prioritise children's mental health. Recognising the signs of stress and providing effective strategies to manage it can help children navigate their daily lives with more ease.
Recognising the Signs
Changes in a child's behaviour, such as increased irritability, headaches, stomachaches, and sleepiness, may indicate that something is amiss. It's crucial to pay attention to these signs and offer support when needed.
Taking a Mental Health Day
If a child is struggling, taking a day off can be beneficial. Fortunately, a day off can be considered an excused absence with no doctor's note needed. After a mental health day, it's important to praise the child for recognising their need for a break and have a follow-up conversation about how the day went.
Leading questions like, "Are you feeling overwhelmed? Is anything at school upsetting you?" can help parents discern if a child needs further support.
Mental Health Strategies for Parents
Experts recommend several mental health strategies and activities parents can use to help children manage stress and emotional well-being. These approaches emphasise emotional support, sensory regulation, consistency, and cultural sensitivity.
Emotional Validation
Validating children's feelings by openly acknowledging their emotions can help them feel understood and safe. For example, saying "I see this is hard for you" can go a long way in making a child feel supported.
Coping Skills
Modeling and teaching healthy coping skills like deep breathing, grounding techniques, and mindfulness meditation can help children regulate anxiety and stress responses. Deep breathing can be practiced anytime, such as before school or tests.
Creating a Safe Environment
Creating a safe and calming environment at home, for example by setting up a sensory-friendly calm-down space and establishing daily rituals like bedtime routines or morning checklists, can provide children with a sense of security.
Sensory Diet
A "sensory diet" tailored to the child's sensory needs can help reduce dysregulated behaviour and agitation. Activities engaging vestibular, tactile, and proprioceptive senses, like chewing toys for oral input, bouncing on a ball, wall push-ups, or safe jumping and spinning, can be particularly helpful for children with sensory processing difficulties or autism.
Positive Coping Statements
Helping children name their feelings and develop positive coping self-statements, such as "I can do this" or "There are people here to support me," can reinforce realistic thinking and resilience in stressful situations.
Breaks and Physical Activities
Providing options for breaks and physical activities, especially during challenging tasks, can help with attention and emotional regulation. Small exercises, walks, or brief fun activities can be calming and refocus attention, especially in school settings.
Culturally Responsive Dialogue
Engaging in culturally responsive dialogue about mental health can help parents understand the beliefs and practices of their children's cultural backgrounds, improving engagement and outcomes.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) Principles
Using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) principles can guide children in reframing anxious or negative thoughts and developing problem-solving skills. This approach can be implemented through professionals or parental support.
Collaboration is Key
Parents should collaborate with educators and mental health professionals to tailor strategies to each child’s unique needs. Making the decision to take a mental health day together with your child gives them a sense of control and shows them that their needs are taken seriously.
A National Concern
The American Academy of Pediatrics declared a national state of emergency in children's mental health in October 2020. Mental health-related visits to the emergency room by children ages 5 to 17 increased by 24% to 31% between 2019 and 2020, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Importance of Short Breaks
Short breaks have been found to boost the level of the feel-good hormone oxytocin in elementary students. Activities like sleeping in, listening to music, walking in nature, reading, journaling, becoming completely absorbed in an activity, or making slime can be beneficial during a mental health day.
Taking a full day off can exercise the parasympathetic nervous system's ventral vagal pathway, supporting a calm body, focus, and problem-solving in children who have been under pressure for an extended period. Short breaks help the parasympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for the body's "rest and digest" conditions.
When to Take a Mental Health Day
Mental health days should not be used for children who want to avoid specific situations, but for those who are generally happy going to school but are feeling burned out or overwhelmed. Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Maine, Nevada, and Virginia also allow mental health days for children.
The focus of the follow-up conversation should be on articulating the signs that indicated the child needed a day off and whether they thought their mental health day was helpful in overcoming those. Not taking a break can magnify the issues because the child's stress response is quickly burning up resources that should be dedicated to something else. The buildup of adrenaline affects the child's prefrontal cortex, which can lead to feelings of "burnout" and the need for more time to recover.
Barbara Macon's daughter was able to take a day off from school for mental health reasons, as allowed by a 2019 Oregon law. By recognising the signs, taking a break when needed, and implementing effective mental health strategies, we can support our children in managing their stress and improving their emotional well-being.
- Acknowledging changes in a child's behaviour, such as increased irritability, headaches, or sleepiness, is crucial to identify potential mental health issues.
- After a mental health day, it's essential to praise the child for recognizing their need for a break and have a follow-up conversation about how the day went.
- Using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles can guide children in reframing anxious or negative thoughts and developing problem-solving skills.
- Recognising the signs and taking breaks when needed, along with implementing effective mental health strategies, can help children manage their stress and improve their emotional well-being.
