Good mental health habits for kids

These days we are constantly hearing about mental health in the media, everything from positive initiatives to the lack of funding for mental health services and more often than not the emphasis tends to be on the lack of funding, poor services and the increasing number of people experiencing mental health difficulties. We here at Celbridge Playzone seek to take a holistic approach to children and child development and as we strive to be more than your average family play centre we have found the top six ways you can help your children keep mentally well and although it might seem unusual to be focusing on a young child’s mental health, laying the foundations for positive mental health at a young age may make a huge difference later in life.

Ensuring that your children have good mental health doesn’t mean that they will never experience worry or upset but rather they will be in a position to deal with these emotions and overcome them, preparing them better for whatever life may have in store for them in the future.

Here are the top six ways to promote good mental health in your children.

Look after your own mental health
Many adults find themselves living stressful and busy lives and some may even find themselves getting bogged down by the stress experienced throughout everyday life. It is important that before being able to look after your child’s mental health you must be actively looking at ways to look after your own mental health and control stress. Children learn from their parents so living a life, which promotes mental health, will have a positive effect on your children, making them aware of the importance of looking after your mental health.

Sleep

Sleep is an essential aspect for ensuring positive mental health, both for adults and for children. Ensuring your child has positive mental health means ensuring that they get enough sleep. Ensuring children get between 10 and 12 hours sleep will enable proper growth and development and ensure they are well rested, allowing them to deal with challenges to the best of their ability.

Exercise

Exercise does more than just ensure physical health but it also has a significant positive impact on your mental health. With exercise encouraging the production of hormones such as serotonin, which helps tackle depression and low mood, it is important that your child is getting a minimum of an hours exercise a day. A trip to someone like Playzone on a rainy day can help with this as children don’t exercise like adults a trip to Playzone can ensure children can get healthy exercise through play.

Creative Outlets

All children should be encouraged to get creative as it encourages them to find new ways of expressing themselves. Not only does creativity allow children to explore different outlets for emotions but it also encourages them to engage in activities mindfully, focusing on the here and now, allowing children to move away from the stress and worries associated with everyday life. Finding hobbies such as art and sports also allows this to happen.

Space

As parents we worry about our children, we want to spend time with them everyday and ensure they are well looked after, we want our children to feel loved and cared for so when it comes to accepting that children of all ages need time and space of their own it can be hard. Children of all ages can benefit in some way of having their own down time, time to allow their thoughts to wander and to explore their own thoughts, feelings, and emotions. Just like adults children too need their own space in order to relax.

Talk

We always hear about the benefits of talking when it comes to look after our mental health and this doesn’t just apply to adults but it is essential for children too. Some kids bottle up what is going on inside as they feel they cannot talk about things or indeed may not have the ability to express their emotions which is why from a young age it is essential to encourage talking and questioning why a person may be experiencing such feelings. Some children may not be able to verbally communicate their worries or concerns so engaging in creative methods can also be useful.

Mental health is an essential part of our lives and is something, which needs to be, valued the same as physical health. We here at Celbridge Playzone we recognize the importance of mental health and it is for that very reason that we seek to take a holistic approach to child development but also to give parents the tools necessary to help ensure their children can begin to lay the foundations of positive mental health.

Raising confident happy children

Raising children is a full time job, one that we recognize at Playzone as something that can be challenging but worthwhile. Here at Celbridge Playzone we see a whole host of children who we watch grow and develop into fun loving mischief-makers. We have developed unique relationships not only with the children we see on a regular basis but also their parents and it is for that very reason that we seek to help and support parents just as much as the children. Our blog is the place where parents can come not only to learn about Playzone but also to get some top tips on helping their children to grow and develop in to the little mischief makers we want to see them become, loving life and reminding us adults of the importance of living life to the full and taking advantage of any opportunities that come our way.

Parenting can be stressful, we all want the best for our children, we all want them to grown up to be confident and happy but this can sometimes be challenging. Sometimes as parents we can find ourselves unintentionally preventing our children from being as confident as they could be. Confidence is essential for children as it helps them to grow and succeed in many different areas of life which is why we have sourced some of the top tips for helping you to ensure that your children grown to be happy and confident, testing their limits and living life to the full.

Facing their fears

From a young age it is essential to help your children to face their fears, both developmental fears and learned fears. Overcoming learned fears such as a fear of dogs or spiders could be a daunting task for parents, especially if they share many of the same fears but it is something that will allow your children to develop confidence and allow them to gain a sense of achievement, that they have overcome a fear. It is essential to avoid avoiding ensuring your children can grow and develop.

Nature

Many children develop when they are outdoors, experiencing new things, making new friends, and gaining a sense of autonomy. Engaging with organizations such as Scouting Ireland will not only allow your children to learn new skills but will provide them with a level of autonomy which will allow their confidence to develop along with a greater understanding of the world around them, reducing fears and foster a greater sense of achievement within.

Praise

Praise is crucial for ensuring that children know what they have done well and encouraging a boost in confidence. Nowadays with the media focusing on looks rather than what people do, skills they have and abilities they can develop it is essential for us as parents to focus on what our children do and achieve rather than how they look or how others might view them in aiding the development of their confidence, encouraging children to link their self-worth with the positive things they do will enable them to recognize their talents and create a positive self-image.

Try, try, and try again

We all learn through our mistakes but often children can get frustrated when something doesn’t work our for them the first time round. For this reason many children find themselves lacking confidence in certain areas because they fell they cannot do something. In order to encourage our children’s confidence to develop we must remain children, constantly that if at first you don’t succeed try again. When a child try’s again and again and eventually achieves their confidence will be boosted and they will develop a strong sense of achievement, instilling personal values of persistence and patience.

Responsibility

When children are given responsibilities and trust they often seek to live up to the expectations they feel this responsibility imposes upon them along with maintain trust. When children are given responsibility and trust and succeed in maintaining that trust we often see children grown and develop, building confidence and seeking more responsibility. As parents we may avoid giving our children responsibilities for fear of loosing them and seeing them grow up to fast but in order to ensure that out children grow up to be beaming with confidence and full of autonomy we must give into our own fears in order to allow our children to develop.

Here at Celbridge Playzone we often see children develop confidence by completing simple tasks such as getting to the top of the slide and finding the courage to come down the slide without a parent. It is these small steps that allow children to grow and develop into confident children. Being more than just a play centre we here at Playzone have recognised the role we play in children’s lives in encouraging and supporting them to achieve things. These small achievements, which happen at Playzone, have the power to lay the foundations for your children to develop in confident children.

Child Development at Playzone

Are you wondering what you can do to help your child’s development? Are you struggling to understand the different aspects of development essential for your child? Not sure how you can meet all your child’s developmental needs? Well we here at Playzone are here to help you with that!

We here at Playzone understand that a child’s development is essential for future life which is why we are aware that children’s development is a multifaceted concept and seek to ensure we provide adequate opportunities to ensure all of your child's developmental needs are met in some way. I know you might find yourself asking how can a children’s play center meet my child’s developmental needs? Well our play center is designed in such a way as to ensure we meet your children’s needs, but its not just our design, which ensures this, it is our wide range of activities offered though our parent and toddler mornings.

We here at Playzone understand that children learn best when they are engaging with their senses. It is through engaging with their senses that children have the opportunities to begin to comprehend different aspect of life. It is through this understanding that we have ensured Playzone can offer children the opportunities they need in order to explore a range of materials without any preconceived knowledge allowing them to develop their cognitive, social, emotional, creative, linguistic and physical skills.

Cognitive Development

Cognitive development begins at a young age and is aided and enhanced through problem solving and decision-making. For very young children we can often find ourselves questioning if there are ways in which we can present our children with problems to be solved or decisions to be made and the answer is yes. Playzone's play equipment, which is comprised, of three levels is the perfect place for children wishing to develop their cognitive abilities. By presenting children with the problem of seeking to find a way to the top of the equipment in order to experience the thrill of the slide and offering them ample opportunities to make independent decision in the process you can rest assured that your child’s current cognitive abilities are being challenged, encouraging further development.

Linguistic Development

Children at a young age do not have the ability to truly understand and define language. In order to allow your child the opportunities they require to begin to define language we must present them with opportunities to experience the meaning of the word.  Here at Playzone our parent and toddler mornings do just that! Presenting children with opportunities to use their senses, particularly touch through our parent and toddler Play Doh time children are given opportunities to begin to discover new textures while also beginning to comprehend new words such as firm, smooth and bumpy. It is our sensory play at Playzone, using Play Doh with can encourage your children to begin to use descriptive and expressive language, developing their vocabulary and increasing their communication.

Social and Emotional Development

Social and emotional development can often be something that is overlooked when children are very young but it is crucial not only at a young age but in later life. We here at Celbridge Playzone truly value social and emotional development of not only children but adults too which is why we seek to ensure that your children are presented with the opportunities they need in order to enhance their social and emotional development. By coming to Playzone you can provide you children with the opportunities they need to develop both socially and emotionally by allowing them to be in complete control of their actions and experience. This control allows a child’s confidence to develop encouraging children to develop a desire to learn and develop, a desire which is crucial for life.  Whether your child chooses to take advantage of our play equipment or use or blocks, jigsaws and Play Doh your child will have the opportunity to learn about co-operation, collaboration and begin to develop an understanding and appreciation for someone else’s view point.

Creative Development

Our parent and toddler mornings provide the perfect opportunities for your little ones to get creative. With our arts and craft activities we encourage children to begin to try new experiences, use different materials, everything from glitter to crayons in order to encourage their creative thinking and abilities. We here at Playzone focus on the process of arts and crafts as we recognise it is the process, which encourages creativity rather than the finished product.  If arts and crafts is something which doesn’t take your fancy but you don’t want your child missing out, be sure to pop in for our parent and toddler mornings to get those creative juices flowing.

Physical development

Whether your coming to Playzone for a birthday party, a school tour, for our parent and toddler mornings or just to get out of the house on a rainy day you can rest assured that your child’s physical development will be constantly encouraged and enhanced. With space to run around, a basketball area to encourage the development of hand-eye-coordination, you can be assured that your children’s fine motor skills, which allow us to perform a variety of important tasks will be enhanced. Not only does our play center allow for the development of fine motor skills but our play equipment will ensure that your child’s gross motor skills will get the adequate time and attention which they deserve. Still not convinced? Check out our post about Healthy Exercise Through Play to provide you with all the information you need.

We here at Playzone acknowledge the importance of encouraging children to explore, think, communicate and develop a sense of belonging which is why we pride ourselves in continuously improving our activities and facilities making sure we can turn our play center into one which can be attributed in contributing to your child’s development.