Bledidoc Advice

Children's social and emotional health affects their overall development and learning. Research indicates that children who are mentally healthy tend to be happier, show greater motivation to learn, have a more positive attitude and demonstrate higher academic performance (Hyson 2004; Kostelnik 2015).

Young children who develop strong early relationships with parents, family and caregivers, learn how to pay attention, cooperate, explore and learn from the world around them (La Petite Academy, feb2015).

Children's social health is just as important as their physical health and affects their potential to lead a fulfilling life (NAEYC, March 2018).

What is recommended to support and secure social development in children?

1. Parents who are dependable, consistent, respectful and responsive to their children, help them to develop a sense of security (Healthwise staff, August 21, 2019)
2. Love your child and show affection towards them. Hug, read, and talk with them.
3. Encourage your child to try new things. Help them see what they are capable of. Children who explore, learn new skills and how to solve problems. Offer a variety of things to play with, read, create and build. It might be hard, but try not to limit your child because of safety fears. Instead, do what you can to keep the child safe as he or she explores the world (Healthwise staff, December 2019).
4. Give your child opportunities to play with other children even one day a week. Children learn to share, cooperate and negotiate as they interact with peers (Healthwise staff, December 2019).
5. Model kind and generous behaviour when interacting with other adults and children (Hyson 2004).
6. Establish daily routines. Your child will feel confident and secure. They will learn that events can happen in an organized way. Create routines that are predictable, but flexible (Healthwise staff, August 2019).

For example, for children between 3 and 6 years old, sedentary screen time should be no more than one hour, less is better (WHO guidelines, April 2019).

1. Acknowledge your child's feelings. Help them talk about what they feel and how they are feeling. Comfort your child when they are upset. Hold them and speak softly and calmly (Duffy, 2008).
2. Listening to your child attentively and reflectively enhances their self-worth and confidence.
3. When parents listen to children, they will more likely share their thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Showing respect help children feel more confident and competent to explore and learn (Dombro, 2011).
4. Spend private, quality time with your child through activities, such as story reading and game playing. Providing positive social-emotional opportunities for your children will help them feel good about themselves and develop confidence. Your child will form secure relationships with others and ultimately will be able to avoid and resolve conflicts, focus, learn, share and be a happy child.
5. It has been proven that even nutrition has an effect on your child’s social development as deficiencies can affect his mood and behaviour. For instance, iron deficient children would have less social interaction, be unhappy, wary(1)… vitamin D deficient children would be unsocial, can have speech difficulty, would cry for no reason and would have a delay in development(2)… on the other hand, prebiotics would help reduce anxiety, enhance cognition and reduced stress response(3)… So, making sure to avoid nutritional deficiencies is crucial by ensuring adapted milk for your child’s age and a balanced diet.

Dr. Veronique AKKARI

Pediatrician

^{1- Lozoff B, Beard J, Connor J, Barbara F, Georgieff M, Schallert T. Long-Lasting Neural and Behavioral Effects of Iron Deficiency in Infancy. Nutr Rev. 2006; 64 (5 Pt 2): S34–S91}

^{2- Arfaj LK, Alainain S, Al-Agha AE. The Benefit of Vitamin D Therapy on Psychological Aspects in Children and Adolescents in  Western Saudi Arabia. J Diabetes Metab. 2017; 8 (6): 1-4.}

^{3- Bravo et al., PNAS Sept 2011; Savignac et al Behav. Brain Res 2014, Burokas et al., Unpublished}

^{Bledina is not the author of this article as it has been written by Dr Veronique AKKARI who is the owner of the content.}