All parents have a common goal in raising their children, where they want their child to be happy, healthy and successful with good social-emotional development.
Some parents are more open-minded and give more freedom when raising their children, resulting in children with a cheerful and energetic aura. Meanwhile, some parents are very restrictive and as a result, their children tend to be picky and emotionally unstable.
A child's character may partly be due to their genetics, but this does not necessarily mean that their happiness is predetermined from birth. According to Bob Murray, Ph.D., author of Raising an Optimistic Child: A Proven Plan for Depression-Proofing You Children-for Life (McGraw-Hill), our genes may make us more prone to certain behaviours, but they are malleable and can be switched on or off depending on the environment. "The research clearly shows that happy, optimistic children are the product of happy, optimistic homes, regardless of genetic makeup."1
So it all depends on us parents. As parents, you need to be able to shape your children’s futures and educate them in a way that guides their overall development, not just focused on education, but also physical, mental and social-emotional development.
How to Raise A Healthy & Happy Child
#1. Foster a good relationship with your child
The most important aspect of a child’s social-emotional development is to help them connect with parents, siblings and other family members.
According to Edward Hallowell, M.D., child psychiatrist and author of The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness, a child’s connection with their family and close friends from a young age is the ultimate key to happiness in their adulthood2.
Feeling loved, valued, understood and prioritized becomes the biggest protective factor to children from emotional stress and bad behaviours.
#2. Don’t give in
It sounds a bit contradictory as opposed to what parents would normally do, but every behaviour has its limits.
Everything has consequences and if we put our children in their own bubble and always cater to their demands, they will grow to expect others to cater to them too. However, they should learn that real life does not work this way.
Parents should also know that they are not solely responsible for a child’s happiness. Parents who swoop in immediately to protect their child’s emotions will face great difficulty in allowing their child to experience their own anger, sadness or frustration.
We feel the need to always keep them happy when in actuality they need to experience other emotions such as anger and sadness too.
Of course it’s true that as parents we want them to always experience life with happiness, however, we need to remember that there is a time and place for everything.
According to Bonnie Harris, Founder of Core Parenting, in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and author of When Your Kids Push Your Buttons: And What You Can Do About It, “children who have never learned to deal with negative emotions are at risk of being easily frustrated when they reach adolescence.”3
#3. Cultivate your own happiness
While we cannot control the happiness of our children, we have to be responsible for our own actions and the role we play. Children absorb everything from us, from our behaviour to reactions and many more.
Happy parents are more likely to have happy children, while children of parents facing depression suffer twice the average rate of depression.
Hence, one of the best things you can do for your child’s emotional well-being is to take care of your own emotions. Find time to relax and nurture a quality relationship with your partner. “If parents have good, committed relationships, children’s happiness will flow naturally4,” says Murray.
#4. Praise only when it’s right
As parents, we naturally want to praise our children whenever they do anything that makes us feel proud. But be careful, mum and dad, not everything deserves praise or celebration.
One of the things that can help a child’s social-emotional development is to give praise when they worked on something diligently, not just based on talent or pure luck.
And what is even better is to praise them for their effort instead of the result alone. This can prevent children from doing things only because they crave praise which can eventually lead to them only focusing on winning.
They will then tend to overlook the main motive which is the effort itself. And if they do things only for praise, one day when they actually face failure, they will be tremendously devastated.
#5. Give children real responsibility
Once your child steps into schooling life, they must be taught real-life responsibility.
Happiness greatly depends on the feeling that what we are doing is important and valued by others.
Give your child specific tasks such as taking care of their baby brother while you prepare dinner, setting up the dining table before mealtime and so on.
And if they ever forget to do their task, say something like, “I don’t know how to set the table like you did. You’re the only one that is good at it.” It will make your child feel that they are important and that they can handle such responsibility.
Provide the essential nutrients to complete your child’s development
In addition to ensuring your child grows up with confidence, happiness, and the ability to control their emotions and social life, their health also plays a major role in their development.
So parents, when you have done your best for your child's social-emotional development, give them NESPRAY Full Cream Milk for all the essential nutrients they need to stay healthy, active & happy!
The Malaysian Diet Guidelines recommend the consumption of 2 glasses of milk a day and did you know, NESPRAY Full Cream Milk is the only full cream milk with 15 vitamins and minerals*.
It is specially formulated for school-going children to help with their physical, mental and social development.
As school-going children experience mental and physical development at a rapid rate at this age, it is important to establish a solid nutritional foundation for their health.
That is why a balanced diet with foods from all food groups, especially fruits and vegetables, is very important as this will ensure that your child gets all the key nutrients to help strengthen their immune system. These nutrients include Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and Iron that can be obtained from a healthy diet. In fact, NESPRAY Full Cream Milk also contains all these essential nutrients.
NESPRAY Full Cream Milk is a good source of protein and is high in Calcium, Iron, Vitamin C, Vitamin D. Not only that, it's also delicious and creamy, with 0g sucrose!
Good overall nutrition is important for a healthy immune system, especially in this time of the pandemic. So always make sure your kids are given enough of these extra nutrients for optimum physical, mental and social development!
Find out more about Nestle NESPRAY Full Cream milk here. If you would like to try this product, you can get it at Shopee or Lazada.
Disclaimer: *Comparison based on Full Cream Cow's Milk nutritional information from Nielsen data (October 2020).
Reference:
- Murray, Bob. (January 13, 2006), Raising an Optimistic Child: A Proven Plan for Depression-Proofing Young Children--For Life from www.amazon.com/Raising-Optimistic-Child-Depression-Proofing-Children/dp/0071459480
- Edward M. Hallowell M.D. (August 26, 2003). The Childhood Roots of Adult Happiness: Five Steps to Help Kids Create and Sustain Lifelong from www.amazon.com/Childhood-Roots-Adult-Happiness-Lifelong/dp/0345442334
- Bonnie Harris (n.d). When Your Kids Push Your Buttons: And What You Can Do About It from www.amazon.com/When-Your-Kids-Push-Buttons-ebook/dp/B001BYAPNG
- Murray, Bob. (January 13, 2006), Raising an Optimistic Child: A Proven Plan for Depression-Proofing Young Children--For Life from www.amazon.com/Raising-Optimistic-Child-Depression-Proofing-Children/dp/0071459480
- Parents
- Time
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