This week we conclude our look at some of the fundamentals of a healthy childhood as detailed by Victoria Prooday in her article, The Silent Tragedy Affecting Today’s Children*.
These include:
- Emotionally available parents
- Clearly defined limits and guidance
- Responsibilities
- Balanced nutrition and adequate sleep
- Movement and outdoors
- Creative play, social interaction, opportunities for unstructured times and boredom
The final two are closely linked. Our bodies are designed to move and moving around outdoors is even better for us. Exercise affects various hormones in our bodies, particularly those that help us feel good and balance our moods.
Moving outdoors increases our exposure to the sun’s Vitamin D. Deficiencies in Vitamin D are said to contribute to sadness in people. Children need to spend time outdoors every day to counteract a sedentary indoor lifestyle. A healthy active child generally feels more confident within, and more secure in his/her abilities. We have a wealth of places where we can take our children to enjoy the outdoors – parks, beaches, walking paths and the like. We can set a great example by playing with our kids when we take them out sometimes, and leaving our technology behind.
While none of us wants to go back to a world without digital connection, the downsides for our children include endless stimulation and the instant gratification they receive from those devices. Children who use electronics a lot are more likely to get bored than those who don’t and some children are unable to entertain themselves if their devices are unavailable. I will look more closely at some of these things in a future article. Children need some unstructured, unconnected time to enable them to explore both their inner and outer worlds and to get to know themselves better. We don’t get to know ourselves better by comparing ourselves with the often fake online world.
If we consider anything we use in our daily life, somebody had to imagine it first, design it, try it out, refine it and so on. Would the Wright brothers have invented the first successful aeroplane if they’d lived in our busy/online world?
Day-dreaming provides a fantastic opportunity to use our imagination. We’ve been raised thinking that both adults and children should be doing something all the time but now mental health experts are saying that this is not what’s best for people. We do not need to be busy or entertained all the time. We all need to stop and think about things.
Children do need to be able to entertain themselves and we do well to teach them to be alone and enjoy their own company. (I need to make it clear that I am not saying that children should be left home alone.) As parents, we might need to help our children find some ‘fun things to do” particularly if they’re very young. A useful thing we could do withour children is to come up with some “boredom-buster” ideas. One website suggests having a boredom-buster bottle, make a list of ideas on separate pieces of paper and selecting a couple when there’s nothing to do. If you need ideas, google “Boredom-busters”.
Mental health issues seem to be on the increase, with anxiety and depression soaring in all areas of the population. If we can do anything to lessen the likelihood of our children developing them, we ought take that opportunity.
Beyond Blue’s website has a lot of helpful information and resources. If you have any concerns, or want to learn more about mental health issues, here’s a good place to start:https://www.beyondblue.org.au
* https://faithit.com/silent-tragedy-affecting-todays-children-victoria-prooday/
