Supporting Your Child’s Health: 4 Areas That Are Often Overlooked

When it comes to keeping your child healthy, there are numerous aspects to consider. We all know the importance of eating well, getting plenty of sleep, and exercising. However, there are other ways to support your child’s health and development that can often be overlooked. 

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Senses

Touch, hearing, sight, smell, and taste. Everyone knows the five senses, but how often do you pay attention to your child’s ability to experience each one fully? For any parents, there are routine dentist and doctor appointments; however, frequently, when it comes to hearing or smell, they only see a doctor if something appears wrong. Regular ENT checkups can help to ensure your child’s hearing and sense of smell are working as they should be and that there is nothing that can cause any issues. On top of this, you can ensure you are proactively protecting your child’s hearing by ensuring they know how to cast their ears properly, how to keep them clean, and protect them from loud noises. Part of this is choosing right hearing protection for when they will be in environments that are louder than usual or not allowing them to insert things into their ears to avoid causing damage this way.

Mental Health

Children can experience fluctuations in their mental health from an early age. Learning what normal is in terms of their general level of happiness and comfort at home can help you to identify when things aren’t looking so good for them and they may need extra support. It might be that they simply need someone to vent to after an upsetting day at school, or they could be subject to bullying, which can adversely affect them as they get older. Pay attention to their demeanor and habits; if you notice any changes, address this quickly.

Habits

We’re all prone to bad habits occasionally, but allowing your child to indulge in them can affect their physical and mental health over time. What constitutes a bad habit can be subjective and be different from family to family. Things like biting nails, chewing hair, or not cleaning up after themselves are common. And parents can support change in their kids by helping them to make changes, stop bad habits, and find new outlets for this behavior.

Emotional Health

Your child’s emotional health is just as important as their mental and physical health. You need to ensure they can express themselves as they need to and be supported in sharing their emotions and not bottling things up. This is especially true for boys when traditionally, men have been told to hide their feelings and that crying is for girls. All emotions are natural, and your child needs to learn how to deal with their feelings in a healthy way and know they have the support of their parents when doing so, regardless of the type of emotion they are expressing. This can go a long way in supporting their healthy development into adults and helping them to become well-rounded adults.

Conclusion

Your child’s health needs to be considered in a multifaceted approach, meaning you look at the bigger picture rather than focusing on how well they eat or how active they are. You need to provide them with a well-rounded upbringing that supports every part of them to ensure they remain healthy and happy throughout childhood.