Help your Child Build Strong Connections
Having meaningful relationships with others helps build important skills, such as empathy and cooperation. When children have a sense of belonging, they feel supported, secure, and loved. A strong support network will help your child be better prepared to overcome life’s challenges.
Take advantage of the little moments.
Your family’s life is super busy. While you may not have endless hours to spend with your child, it’s not just the quantity, but the quality of time together that matters. A strong relationship with your child provides a foundation upon which they can build resilience.
- Create “special” time with your child to show them how important they are to you.
- Plan time each day to do activities together, like arts and crafts, practicing reading, or matching socks.
- Make special goodbye routines or secret handshakes with your kiddo.
- Cuddle with them as you read together or watch a movie.
- Find opportunities to cook, tell stories, garden, play make believe, or get active with your child.
- Although it can be tempting to respond to a text or quickly check an email that pops up on your phone, put away your electronics during these times.
Small gestures, like holding their hand or kissing their head, are not so small to your child.
These moments of connection send subtle messages to your child including, “we are a team” and “we face the world together!” This becomes increasingly important as children grow up and don’t appear to need or want this type of encouragement the way that younger children do.
When one of your children is sick or feeling sad, talk to your other children about ways they could help their sibling feel better.
- Sibling relationships will always have their ups and downs…some days they are peas in a pod, other days they won’t even want to breathe the same air! Remember: this behavior is typical of kids. Encourage positive, supportive bonds between your children.
- Let your children connect with each other without telling them what to do or say. Help them to find common interests and share new experiences.
- Teach your children to be kind to their siblings. Being compassionate helps kids learn to put other people’s needs first and helps them to lean on each other.
Remember your child’s temperament plays a role.
You know your child probably better than anyone else. So, you’re well aware of their unique way of understanding and interacting with the world around them. Their temperament will define the types of experiences they will have throughout their lives. Keep in mind how they respond in different situations to support them during the ups and the downs.
Provide support to your child especially in times where they are having difficulty handling what is going on around them.
This is a fine line to balance on, but provide them a general idea of what to expect in different situations, without planning minute-to-minute in order to avoid causing anxiety if things do not go exactly how you said they would.
- Have special nighttime or goodbye routines, such as a code words, hugs, or other gestures. This will let your kiddo know that it’s time for them to be away from you, but that they’ll be okay.
For situations that you know may be challenging for your child, it’s important to not let them avoid it. Although putting them in these situations is not easy or fun (for either of you), offer support and ways they can manage their reactions.
Your child’s temperament is not something they chose, so remember that they’re not choosing to do some of the behaviors that sometimes make things more challenging.
Try to not become upset or frustrated with them if they react or say things that you think aren’t appropriate given the situation. This is by no means easy, try modeling strategies that you use to manage your emotions, so take some deep breaths and try your best to remain calm.
Think about how their temperament is influencing how they see the situation. If you’re not sure, don’t be afraid to ask them what their perspective is, so that you can help support and prepare them in similar situations in the future.