How to positively influence children’s well-being

Nurturing healthier, happier, more purposeful children.

Protecting children from destructive influences is more challenging today than ever before. Information, good, bad, true or false, is constantly bombarding them. They are being consciously and subconsciously influenced, a little bit at a time, day after day!

The digital age makes information transfer easy, but technology is not the only communication channel. Our children pick up on other people’s thoughts, feelings, and emotions too. Think about your own family unit and ask yourself, how could your thoughts and feelings about Covid influence your children’s well-being? 

“If the adults in their surroundings are generally worried about Covid, and if they are lacking in feelings of self-confidence, and if they convey these to the child then the child will sense these feelings in the adults and they may feel the same.” Chris Parkin, Occupational Psychologist

Clearly, Covid is not the only issue, there are a million and one other circumstances that could cause children to worry.

The question is, what steps can society take now to safeguard children’s well-being?

Education is the obvious answer.

Imagine the impact a curriculum focused on children’s well-being could have on their self-belief, self-esteem, and self-confidence.

It’s absolutely likely that future generations would cultivate greater inner strength from an earlier age.

Could now be the time to give the subject, let’s call it self-skills, the same level of importance as other subjects such as English and Maths?

How would society benefit from such an approach?

My bet is that young people would achieve more academically because of their increased self-belief and confidence. There could also be a positive impact on enrolment into further education and on the 16-24-year-old employment statistics.

But that’s not all! 

It’s totally conceivable and logical to expect several other significant positive knock-on effects, including reduced anxiety, greater personal motivation, and improved prospects. In other words, society will be nurturing healthier, happier, more purposeful children.

Adults benefit too!

The rewards of embedding wide-spread esteem building practices don’t stop with the children either! The adults who engage in “paying it forward” will be rewarded with improved self-understanding, a more in-depth appreciation of the differences in others, and greater personal self-worth!

“I am finding it as useful as my son! He’s only 8 but he is learning so much about himself. What his strengths are, where his natural ability lies. It’s all combining to give him more confidence”. Kristie Prada, mum to her little boy.

The more humanity embraces the development of children’s self-esteem and confidence (from the earliest possible age), the quicker society will counteract the alarming rise in anxiety and depression.

Action is the enemy of fear!

News today is dominated by one subject, Covid. But that does not mean issues like low self-esteem, anxiety, and depression in children have gone away. They are still there, and the longer we leave them to fester, the harder it will be to break the cycle. The World Health Organisation (WHO) predict that depression will be the number 1 health concern above all others by 2030. Society needs to wake up now and take action before things escalate further, and reversing the trend becomes even more difficult. 

Starting small works!

“A small change of state now can lead to a large difference in the state later.” The butterfly effect, Edward Lorenz.

The question is, what small changes can society make now that could immediately begin to positively influence our children’s well-being?

What do you think?

Write a comment below.

P.S. You may also like this post about protecting children from negativity.

Gav Devereux