TIME OUT
Filed under:
Motivation & Inspiration
So many of us say ‘I just want my children to be happy’ but what are we doing about it?
Making sure they are educated, fed and watered and ensuring they have friends and hobbies but these are all external things. How many of us are really equipping our children with resilience, emotional understanding, gratitude, self-love, worth and hope? I think these are important factors for mental wellbeing. We can’t be happy without these no matter how well we do in our exams, no matter what belt we are in karate or how many languages we can speak. All of this can come crashing down if we are not equipped with resilience.
I would like to see a focus on this in the classroom. I would like to know that our children’s emotional and spiritual needs are genuinely catered for – not in a box ticking Ofsted kind of way but in a way that prepares them for life. I want friendship upsets to be ‘water off a duck’s back’, a dodgy grade on an essay to be a blip, I want resilient children with perspective and coping mechanisms.
I don’t want my children to suffer debilitating anxiety – like me. From panic attacks to hot flushes, to the extreme need to exit a room without explanation – I’ve had it all. I was a busy child, an all singing, dancing, acting, reasonably academic achiever. But I wasn’t getting the lessons I needed.
No blame to be placed anywhere – just saying. My head has always buzzed with thoughts and I have only recently realised how powerful a thought can be if left untamed.
Since I have had children I have become very focussed on creating a calm home – for all our sakes – and I have come across quite a few like-minded types. Most recently, I heard about a nursery teacher who ensures the children have at least 10 minutes of quiet time. The children are invited to sit on the carpet and close their eyes, focus on their breathing or listen to music. As a parent I am all for that. Our kids need to know that this is OK, relaxation is good, in fact you must do it. You can’t whizz around from one mind absorbing activity to another and hope you don’t get burn out.
I always say to my husband ‘Thank God we didn’t have Facebook when we were young’. I can’t imagine what a minor upset between friends escalates to nowadays – publically. I think now, more than ever we need to make our children’s resilience and mental health the focus. Don’t worry Mr Gove, you can still give them targets – if our children are looking after their emotional and mental welfare then everything else will follow.
Of course, the children will learn from us so my Wednesday night Yoga practice is not just good for me…….
Making sure they are educated, fed and watered and ensuring they have friends and hobbies but these are all external things. How many of us are really equipping our children with resilience, emotional understanding, gratitude, self-love, worth and hope? I think these are important factors for mental wellbeing. We can’t be happy without these no matter how well we do in our exams, no matter what belt we are in karate or how many languages we can speak. All of this can come crashing down if we are not equipped with resilience.
I would like to see a focus on this in the classroom. I would like to know that our children’s emotional and spiritual needs are genuinely catered for – not in a box ticking Ofsted kind of way but in a way that prepares them for life. I want friendship upsets to be ‘water off a duck’s back’, a dodgy grade on an essay to be a blip, I want resilient children with perspective and coping mechanisms.
I don’t want my children to suffer debilitating anxiety – like me. From panic attacks to hot flushes, to the extreme need to exit a room without explanation – I’ve had it all. I was a busy child, an all singing, dancing, acting, reasonably academic achiever. But I wasn’t getting the lessons I needed.
No blame to be placed anywhere – just saying. My head has always buzzed with thoughts and I have only recently realised how powerful a thought can be if left untamed.
Since I have had children I have become very focussed on creating a calm home – for all our sakes – and I have come across quite a few like-minded types. Most recently, I heard about a nursery teacher who ensures the children have at least 10 minutes of quiet time. The children are invited to sit on the carpet and close their eyes, focus on their breathing or listen to music. As a parent I am all for that. Our kids need to know that this is OK, relaxation is good, in fact you must do it. You can’t whizz around from one mind absorbing activity to another and hope you don’t get burn out.
I always say to my husband ‘Thank God we didn’t have Facebook when we were young’. I can’t imagine what a minor upset between friends escalates to nowadays – publically. I think now, more than ever we need to make our children’s resilience and mental health the focus. Don’t worry Mr Gove, you can still give them targets – if our children are looking after their emotional and mental welfare then everything else will follow.
Of course, the children will learn from us so my Wednesday night Yoga practice is not just good for me…….
