Building Healthier People

When we have children, we often hope they are healthy. That they will live long, fulfilling lives and won’t have to deal with the pain that we went through. We want them to live better lives than we did, with more opportunities. We can hope for a lot. We make sure they eat all their vegetables, exercise, do their school work, keep them away from drugs, teach them how to act in public, etc. We guide them to make the best choices they can. But, even with all the love and care in the world, we can fall short of raising our children to be mentally healthier. Especially when we are working through our own traumas and unlearning unhealthy behavior, it can be difficult to know WHERE to start. We are not only raising children; we are raising, teaching, and building tiny humans who will grow and have their own feelings, thoughts, issues, and pains.

So what can we do to help our own family, to help our children grow and be healthy? To help our children learn and understand their emotions and the importance of mental health so that they can go into life with the best tools possible?

Remember that each child, like each adult, is different.

They require different needs, different levels of emotional regulation and skills, and different ways of motivation. Part of helping children become healthy adults is meeting their individual needs, what worked for one child…