5 Ways to Teach Your Children About Self-Care
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by Anya Willis of FitKids
As an adult, you might turn to certain self-care practices when you’re feeling overwhelmed by work, family obligations, or other responsibilities. Kids can benefit from self-care, too! It’s important for kids to learn about healthy coping mechanisms for stress at a young age. For example, they can learn the ropes of self-massage through Self-Massage for Health and Fitness. Here are a few other self-care ideas that you can share with your whole family.
Clean Up Your Home
It’s hard to practice self-care when your home is cluttered. Ultimately, decluttering and cleaning your home is its own form of self-care - by creating an organized space, your family will feel calmer and healthier. Plus, cleaning up can be a fun project for the whole family. Your kids can help out by cleaning their own rooms. You can show them how to sort through their belongings and decide what to keep, what to throw out, and what to donate.
Create a Family Schedule
Children need a sense of routine in order to thrive. When you’re a busy parent, it can feel like your schedule is always chaotic. But creating a general weekly schedule for your household can help everyone in your family feel more centered. By setting a positive example for your children with a predictable schedule, you can model the importance of self-care.
If you work from home while watching your children during the day, you can put together a schedule for your whole family. Although you might need to make changes sometimes, it’s okay if you don’t follow it perfectly - creating a general sense of structure is the goal.
Self-Massage
Massage is appropriate for all ages - and you don’t need to go to a professional masseuse in order to reap the benefits! In fact, your family can relax and unwind with self-massage techniques. Self-massage is easy to do, and this practice is very soothing for children and adults alike. You and your kids can try out foot massages with lotion, head massages with essential oils, or giving back massages before bedtime to release muscle tension.
Foster Their Creativity
Children are naturally creative and imaginative, but it’s up to parents to encourage this inherent creativity. For kids, arts and crafts can also be a form of self-care!
What if your child seems reluctant to express their creativity? Maybe they worry that someone will judge them for their ideas, or maybe they don’t feel confident in their art skills. You can prompt your child to use their big imagination and find a sense of freedom in their creative pursuits. Clever Tykes recommends letting your children choose which interests they want to explore and giving them some independence when doing so.
Focus on Health and Fitness
Many adults find that staying physically active and eating a healthy diet supports their mental health, and this is true for children, too! But what if your child hasn’t been getting much exercise recently? Children’s Health recommends finding more opportunities to move throughout the day. For example, you could go for a walk or bike ride while running errands rather than driving, or choosing the stairs over the elevator when you’re out and about. If your child is older, you can also help them set fitness goals - this can provide the motivation they need!
When children learn the importance of prioritizing self-care for their mental health, they can take this lesson with them into adulthood. Self-care can be an integral part of your children’s usual routines. If your whole family is taking time to destress, you’ll all benefit!
Do you want to teach your family the art of self-massage? Find educational resources through Self Massage for Health and Fitness! Browse our website to learn about self-massage today.