Physical needs for a child: What Every Child Needs For Good Mental Health

What Every Child Needs For Good Mental Health

It is easy for parents to identify their child’s physical needs: nutritious food, warm clothes when it’s cold, bedtime at a reasonable hour. However, a child’s mental and emotional needs may not be as obvious. Good mental health allows children to think clearly, develop socially and learn new skills. Additionally, good friends and encouraging words from adults are all important for helping children develop self confidence, high self-esteem, and a healthy emotional outlook on life.

A child’s physical and mental health are both important.

Basics for a child’s good physical health:

• Nutritious food
• Adequate shelter and sleep
• Exercise
• Immunizations
• Healthy living environment

Basics for a child’s good mental health:

• Unconditional love from family
• Self-confidence and high self-esteem
• The opportunity to play with other children
• Encouraging teachers and supportive caretakers
• Safe and secure surroundings
• Appropriate guidance and discipline

Give children unconditional love.

Love, security and acceptance should be at the heart of family life. Children need to know that your love does not depend on his or her accomplishments.

Mistakes and/or defeats should be expected and accepted. Confidence grows in a home that is full of unconditional love and affection.

Nurture children’s confidence and self-esteem.

Make time for play!

Encourage Children to Play

To children, play is just fun. However, playtime is as important to their development as food and good care. Playtime helps children be creative, learn problem-solving skills and learn self-control. Good, hardy play, which includes running and yelling, is not only fun, but helps children to be physically and mentally healthy.

Children Need Playmates

Sometimes it is important for children to have time with their peers. By playing with others, children discover their strengths and weaknesses, develop a sense of belonging, and learn how to get along with others. Consider finding a good children’s program through neighbors, local community centers, schools, or your local park and recreation department.

Parents Can be Great Playmates

Join the fun! Playing Monopoly or coloring with a child gives you a great opportunity to share ideas and spend time together in a relaxed setting.

Play for Fun

Winning is not as important as being involved and enjoying the activity. One of the most important questions to ask children is “Did you have fun?’’ not “Did you win?”

In our goal-oriented society, we often acknowledge only success and winning. This attitude can be discouraging and frustrating to children who are learning and experimenting with new activities. It’s more important for children to participate and enjoy themselves.

TV use should be monitored

Try not to use TV as a “baby-sitter” on a regular basis. Be selective in choosing television shows for children. Some shows can be educational as well as entertaining.

School should be fun!

Starting school is a big event for children. “Playing school” can be a positive way to give them a glimpse of school life.

Try to enroll them in a pre-school, Head Start, or similar community program which provides an opportunity to be with other kids and make new friends. Children can also learn academic basics as well as how to make decisions and cope with problems.

Provide appropriate guidance and instructive discipline

Children need the opportunity to explore and develop new skills and independence. At the same time, children need to learn that certain behaviors are unacceptable and that they are responsible for the consequences of their actions.

As members of a family, children need to learn the rules of the family unit. Offer guidance and discipline that is fair and consistent. They will take these social skills and rules of conduct to school and eventually to the workplace.

Suggestions on Guidance and Discipline

• Be firm, but kind and realistic with your expectations. Children’s development depends on your love and encouragement.
• Set a good example. You cannot expect self-control and self-discipline from a child if you do not practice this behavior.

Criticize the behavior, not the child. It is best to say, “That was a bad thing you did,” rather than “You are a bad boy or girl.”

Avoid nagging, threats and bribery.Children will learn to ignore nagging, and threats and bribes are seldom effective.

Give children the reasons “why” you are disciplining them and what the potential consequences of their actions might be.

Talk about your feelings. We all lose our temper from time to time. If you do “blow your top,” it is important to talk about what happened and why you are angry. Apologize if you were wrong!

Remember, the goal is not to control the child, but for him or her to learn self-control.

Provide a safe and secure home.

It’s okay for children to feel afraid sometimes. Everyone is afraid of something at some point in their life. Fear and anxiety grow out of experiences that we do not understand.

If your children have fears that will not go away and affect his or her behavior, the first step is to find out what is frightening them. Be loving, patient and reassuring, not critical. Remember: the fear may be very real to the child.

Signs of Fear

Nervous mannerisms, shyness, withdrawal and aggressive behavior may be signs of childhood fears. A change in normal eating and sleeping patterns may also signal an unhealthy fear. Children who “play sick” or feel anxious regularly may have some problems that need attention.

Fear of school can occur following a stressful event such as moving to a new neighborhood, changing schools, or after a bad incident at school.

Children may not want to go to school after a period of being at home because of an illness.

When to seek help

Parents and family members are usually the first to notice if a child has problems with emotions or behavior. Your observations with those of teachers and other caregivers may lead you to seek help for your child. If you suspect a problem or have questions, consult your pediatrician or contact a mental health professional.

Warning Signs

The following signs may indicate the need for professional assistance or evaluation:

• Decline in school performance
• Poor grades despite strong efforts
• Regular worry or anxiety
• Repeated refusal to go to school or take part in normal children’s activities
• Hyperactivity or fidgeting
• Persistent nightmares
• Persistent disobedience or aggression
• Frequent temper tantrums
• Depression, sadness or irritability

Learn more about specific mental health conditions and children

• ADHD – attentional problems
• Bipolar Disorder – depression and high energy
• Conduct Disorder – behavioral problems
• Depression – sadness
• Grief – coping with loss
• Psychosis – hearing voices or seeing things that aren’t there
• Suicide – thoughts of death/dying
• Substance use – drinking and using drugs

Where to seek help

Information and referrals regarding the types of services that are available for children may be obtained from:

• Mental health organizations, hotlines and libraries
• Other professionals such as the child’s pediatrician or school counselor
• Other families in the community
• Family network organizations
• Community-based psychiatric care
• Crisis outreach teams
• Education or special education services
• Family resource centers and support groups
• Health services
• Protection and advocacy groups and organizations
• Self-help and support groups

Other Resources

American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
www. aacap.org

Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health
Phone: 703-684-7710
www.ffcmh.org

Family Support America
Phone: 312-338-0900

National Association of School Psychologists
Phone 301-657-0270
www.naspweb.org

Sources

“Facts for Families,” America Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
“Children’s and Adolescent’s Mental Health,” US Dept. of Health and Human Services
copyright 1997 revised 2/00

This pamphlet is copyrighted. Permission to reprint must be obtained from Mental Health America. 2/00

Everyday Strong: How meeting physical needs can help your child be successful | by United Way of Utah County | EveryDay Strong

Physical needs are the foundation for success

You may have heard of the term “hangry.” You may even be feeling it right now.

The term means you are angry because you are hungry. This is because when we are hungry we have shorter tempers, less patience, and less control of our emotions. The same goes for when we are tired or thirsty. These needs are what psychologist Abraham Maslow terms our “physical needs.”

You may know Maslow from an intro psychology class you took in college. He created Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, a theory that self-actualization, or success, only comes when our physical, safety, connection, and confidence needs are met.

Maslow depicts this hierarchy of needs as a triangle, with physical needs at the bottom. Then safety, connection, confidence—and the top being success.

Physical needs are at the bottom because if these needs aren’t satisfied, no other need can be met. Our physical needs are the foundation for success.

Our children have the same needs as us, although they may express them in a different way. We can be helpful by guiding our children and being an example of effective management of emotions.

Children have other physical needs, including: energy and movement needs (exercise, rest when tired, calming practice when overexcited), sensory needs (more or less stimulus, vision or hearing difference, relief from pain) and cognitive needs (differences in processing speed, memory or learning abilities).

Children have other physical needs, including energy and movement needs, sensory needs, and cognitive needs.

When our child is acting out, we can use the pyramid to help alleviate the situation and guide our child through their emotions. We can start at the bottom with physical needs, then work our way up.

Here are a couple of ideas when trying to care for physical needs.

Help children be more in touch with their bodies

Try checking in with a body area or taking a deep breath as a transition activity. For example, say, “Before we go or move on, let’s check in with our shoulders, jaws, feet, stomach while taking five slow, deep breaths.”

If you as an adult think this sounds kind of silly, you might consider experimenting with a mindful, physical check-in for yourself! It’s good for your physical and emotional health.

Try a sensory snack

Pass out a cracker or one of their favorite snacks and spend one minute mindfully eating. Consider its taste, texture, flavor, smell, sound and appearance. Invite your child to share what stood out to them to emphasize that we all have different sensory sensitivities.

Photo by Ola Mishchenko

Encourage movement and play

Get children up to move! Try pacing back and forth while reading. Throw a soft ball around. This is even appropriate with older kids.

They may think it is silly, but that’s okay. Sometimes you need to lose your dignity to find your kids!

Provide roaming freedom

Allow freedom for kids to move around the house to help moderate visual or auditory needs, or find space to take a sensory break.

When our child is screaming at the grocery store, our first instinct is to try to get them to stop. While it can be difficult in the moment to think about the “why” behind their behavior, the pyramid can act as a game plan for us during these heightened situations.

The next time your child acts out, try remembering the pyramid and meeting their physical needs, as well as their needs for safety, connection, and confidence. When we meet the needs of our children, we enable them to thrive. ※

Originally published at https://www.heraldextra.com on February 9, 2020.

CHILD’S NEEDS IN DIFFERENT PERIODS OF LIFE

Infant, 0—1 year old
KEY WORDS: love, tenderness, attention.
Fortunately for our generation, the false idea that children need to be educated and disciplined from the very cradle has already been abandoned today. A baby is pure gold in the spiritual sense. By cherishing his innocence, we can find our way back to ourselves. So those parents who are students of their child are on the right track. Touching your child, taking him in your arms, protecting him from all dangers, playing with him and giving him your attention, you establish a spiritual connection with him. Without these “primitive” reactions from what surrounds it, the human body cannot flourish magnificently – it will wither and lose strength just like a flower deprived of sunlight.

Walking child, 1-2 years old
KEY WORDS: freedom, encouragement, respect.
At this stage of his development the child acquires an ego for the first time. Here the word ego is used in its simplest sense, as “I”, as the recognition of “I am.” This is a dangerous time because for the first time the child experiences separation from his parents. The lure of freedom and curiosity push in one direction, but fear and uncertainty pull in another. Not all experiences associated with being left to your own devices are pleasant. Therefore, it is at this time that parents should teach the spiritual lesson without which no child can truly develop into an independent individual: the world is safe.
If you, as an adult, feel safe, it means that sometime, when you were not yet one or two years old, you were not conditioned by fear: instead, your parents encouraged your unlimited development, taught you to value freedom, despite on the wounds that the child receives from time to time, colliding with the things of this world around him. Falling is not the same thing as being defeated, experiencing pain is not the same thing as deciding that the world is dangerous. Trauma is nothing but the means which Nature uses to tell the child where the boundary is; pain exists to show the young child where “I” begins and ends, to help him avoid potential dangers like getting burned or falling down stairs.
When parents distort this natural learning process, the result is a feeling of psychological pain, which was not at all the intention of Nature. Physiological pain sets boundaries that you cannot cross without experiencing deep anxiety about your condition. If a child attributes injury to being bad, weak, incapable of coping, or surrounded by danger, there is no room for inner spiritual growth. Without a sense of security, the spirit is unattainable: a person is always trying to simply feel secure in this world, but this security cannot be achieved until he gets rid of the imprints received in early childhood.

Preschoolers, 2-5 years old
KEY WORDS: laudable, researching, approved.
At this stage, the child develops a sense of self-respect. Self-respect ensures the willingness to leave the family to face the vast world. This is a period of tasks and tests. Until the child is two or three years old, he does not bear any responsibility for the tasks assigned to him – it is enough for him to play and be cheerful. At this time, the only spiritual duty is to feed the delight that the “I” of the child experiences when it opens to the new world. Simultaneously with the teaching of neatness and the ability to independently hold a spoon, the child begins to realize that “I am” can be expanded to “I can.” When the ego of a two-year-old person has realized this, nothing can stop him. It thinks that the whole world belongs to it – and, of course, all members of its family.
“I” at this time is like a power generator just turned on, and, what is especially scary, the newborn ego uses this power in the most unorganized way. Shouting, yelling, dodging, using the all-powerful word no! and in general, attempts to control reality with the help of one’s own desire – this is exactly what should happen at this age. In a spiritual sense, the value of this preschool age is that this power is a spiritual power, and only its distortions lead to problems. So instead of holding back those bursts of energy in your child, channel them into tasks and challenges that teach balance. In the absence of balance, the uncontrollable desire of the preschooler to exercise his power leads to grief, because what he experiences is mostly an illusion of power. A non-stop chattering two-year-old is still a tiny, vulnerable, unformed character. In our love for children, we allow illusions, because we want them to grow up to be strong, intelligent people, ready for any test. But such a sense of self-respect cannot be developed in a child if, at this age, the feeling that he has power is stopped or suppressed.

Kindergarten-first grade primary school age, 5-8 years old
KEY WORDS: giving, ability to share, nonjudgment, acceptance, sincerity.
Key words that apply to the first school years have a more social connotation. Of course, there are many other words, because when a child at the age of five comprehends the world, his brain is so complex and active that he learns and tests countless different concepts. In addition, I do not want to say at all that the education of the ability to share, give what you have to another and tell the truth can be neglected in earlier years, but the critical moment of this particular age is that at this time the child begins to assimilate abstract concepts. The concrete thinking mind of an infant, which did not understand the reasons for your behavior, but only felt, now acquires the ability to perceive reality beyond “I am”, “I want” and “I am first.”
The way we give at any age shows how much we empathize with the needs of those around us. If, in giving, we see it as a loss – I have to give up something so that you can have it – then the spiritual lesson at this stage has not been passed. Giving in the spiritual sense means: “I give you without losing anything, because you are a part of me. ” A small child cannot fully embrace this idea, but he can feel it. Kids don’t just want to share, they love to share. They feel the warmth that comes from crossing the boundaries of the ego and incorporating another person into their world – there is no greater proof of intimacy, and therefore no other action causes such bliss.
The same can be said about truthfulness. We lie to protect ourselves, to prevent the danger of punishment. Fear of punishment implies internal tension, and even if lying does protect against perceived danger, it very rarely, if ever, helps to get rid of this internal tension. Only the truth can do this. When a young child is taught that telling the truth will make him feel good, he is taking the first step towards realizing that the truth has spiritual value.
It is not necessary to resort to punishments. If you teach a child the attitude of “tell the truth or you will get in trouble,” you are teaching a spiritual falsehood. A child who is tempted to lie is under the influence of fear. If the truth about this fear comes to consciousness, the mind quite logically tries to do the best thing by telling the truth. In any case, you are forcing the child to do better than you think he really is. Learning to act on the demands of others is a sure recipe for spiritual destruction. Your child should feel: “this is what I myself want to do.”

Older children, 8-12 years old
KEY WORDS: independence of judgment, intelligibility, insight.
For many parents, this is the stage of child development that brings the most joy, because it is at this time that children develop personality and independence. They begin to think in their own way, they develop hobbies, likes and dislikes, enthusiasm, an increased desire to discover something that can remain for life, such as a love of science or art. The key spiritual concepts applicable to this age are fully consistent with this exciting phase.
Although it sounds dry, “clearness” is a beautiful quality of the soul. It is much more than just distinguishing good from bad. During these years, the nervous system itself is able to maintain a keen sense of the greatest depth and importance of the future. A ten-year-old child is capable of wisdom, and, first of all, we are talking about the most delicate gift – personal insight into the essence of things. The child is able to see with his own eyes and judge on the basis of what he sees: he no longer receives the world from second hands – from the hands of adults. Therefore, this is the first stage when any concept such as “spiritual law” can be assimilated speculatively. Until then, the law appears to be like a rule to be followed or at least paid attention to. Instead of using the word law, parents can use the words “how it works” or “why it works the way it does” or “do it the way you feel it’s good.” This is a more specific way of learning based on experience.
However, at the age of ten years or so, abstract reasoning takes an independent turn, and experience now becomes a real teacher, instead of an authoritative person. Why this happens is a spiritual mystery, because the experience was present from birth, but for some reason the world suddenly spoke to the child: a deep understanding comes to him from within why it is right or not, why truth and love mean so much.

Early adolescence, 12-15 years old
KEY WORDS: self-awareness, experimentation, responsibility.
Childhood ends and adolescence begins, a time that is considered to be difficult and difficult. Childhood innocence suddenly turns into puberty, and the young creature has needs that parents can no longer satisfy. Parents are beginning to realize that the time has come to let go of their children and trust that they are capable of dealing with a world of responsibility and pressure, to which, perhaps, the parents themselves have just learned to adapt, getting rid of the feeling of insecurity.
The decisive thing now is that the lessons learned in childhood begin to bear fruit, sweet or bitter. A child who goes into the world with the imprint of genuine spiritual knowledge will reflect the pride and trust of their parents. A child who moves stumbling, utterly confused, desperately experimenting, and constantly under pressure from his peers, most likely reflects the hidden disorder of his upbringing.
Adolescence is a time of notorious shyness, but it can also be a time of self-awareness.
When childhood ends, experimentation is perfectly natural, but it should not be reckless and destructive. The whole question is whether the child has an inner self that can be used as an adviser. This inner self is an inaudible voice that has the power to choose between right and wrong, based on a deep understanding of life. Age is irrelevant to this understanding. A newborn baby has it to the same extent as a mature adult. The difference lies in the fact that an adult adheres to the behavior that is determined by the inner adviser, and if you have taught your child to listen to his own silence, you can safely release him into the world no longer as a child. It is a very joyful experience (albeit nerve-wracking at times) to watch as a growing child grows in self-awareness as a result of experimenting with the many choices that life provides.

Deepak Chopra “Seven Spiritual Laws for Parents”

📖 The physical needs of the child, 4. PROVISION OF THE NECESSARY CONDITIONS AT EARLY AGE AND EDUCATION. Theory and practice of child psychoanalysis. Freud A. Page 28. Read online

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Of all the necessary conditions for proper development, first of all it is necessary to mention the need for a carefully balanced diet of the child. In many civilized countries, public organizations control the nutrition of children: in children’s charity clinics they give advice to mothers, timely supply vital products that are difficult to obtain either because of their scarcity or because of the poverty of parents. The child’s diet is based on the results of psychological research and nutritional research, and this fundamentally changes the child’s diet compared to the previous generation. What were once considered luxuries or delicacies (fruit juices, sweets, fish oil, and so on) are now recognized as vital, and today’s children are provided with these products. There is a definite tendency to extend this policy to the later stages of childhood, as evidenced by the introduction of school breakfasts and lunches. There is also a growing trend to shift the responsibility for feeding children from parents to public institutions.

Space. Adults consider the need for food to be more important for children than another, equivalent to it, physical need, which found expression in John Orr in the demand for “full shelter”. Many children lag behind in development due to lack of fresh air, lack of necessary hygiene products, due to the fact that the child does not have a separate bed.

Another physical need of young children is still insufficiently elucidated, although it ranks high among the basic requirements for raising a healthy generation. Young children need active help from adults in developing their muscle control and physical skills. Not that they need to be taught anything in this regard. Crawling, walking, running, jumping and climbing develop naturally. But in order to increase the level that each child is able to achieve individually, these skills must be improved, and adults must contribute to this improvement. Children need to be provided with full space and enough safe conditions to achieve complete control over their bodies. In the cramped conditions in which many children spend their first two or three years, they inevitably face some restrictions on physical freedom. Their movements are restrained so that they do not harm themselves or the property of adults. The consequences of such restrictions in early childhood do not appear as clearly or quickly as the consequences of malnutrition. But there are many children who all their lives remain far below their potential level in achieving physical control over the body. They remain clumsy and undeveloped in their movements, although they could become free, dexterous and graceful if they were given enough space and the opportunity to use toys designed to develop motor skills in early childhood. Just as little attention is paid to the development of various skills at an early age. Grasping, holding, pulling, pushing, touching and other skills are improved consistently if the child develops normally. But the big difference lies in whether the means to improve these skills are accepted or rejected. There are a great many educational toys that serve this purpose perfectly. The requirement that every child should have access to such things as one of the rights of any child is now being considered by public bodies (eg the UK Nursery Association). The same skills that are expected from a child and from an adult at a later age are quite often not developed from the very beginning due to the fact that the necessary conditions for this have not been created.

In addition, in connection with the above two requirements, there is a certain tendency to shift the responsibility for providing children with all the necessary conditions from parents to public institutions, that is, to supplement what parents can offer their children in this regard, at the expense of public authorities.