Taking care of the emotional health of students is as crucial as taking care of their physical bodies. When the students feel good about themselves, it’s quite easier to deal with life’s little challenges and bigger events. Emotional health problems manifested in children tend to be lifelong with issues ranging from depression, anxiety and more.
What is Emotional Health?
Emotional health or well-being is the capability to produce positive thoughts as well as feelings, and adapt to stressful situations efficiently.
Why is Emotional Health Important For Students?
Having good emotional intelligence enables the students to communicate and empathize with others effectively. How they respond to themselves and others impacts both their school and home environments. Children need to interact with many different types of people and face constant changes. Being emotionally intelligent is key to how they respond to what life gives them. It’s also an important element of compassion and understanding the reasons behind people’s behavior.
What are the Challenges Affecting Children?
Many factors contribute to poor mental health in children,
Exam pressures: Many students are fearful that poor marks may ruin their future. The pressure of performing well in exams makes their life very stressful.
Parental Expectations: Children are expected to become the best doctors, engineers, lawyers, or government employees even before they are born, and the pressure becomes unbearable for them. It happens in most of the households in our country where kids are unable to bear the high demands set by parents.
Modern technological world: Students nowadays spend more time indoors with mobiles and laptops. Outdoor games in the park have been replaced by online games. Furthermore, the students have become susceptible to several risks, including cyberbullying, and exposure to disturbing content that affects their mental health.
Social Media: The popularity of social media platforms is growing. Sites like Instagram and Facebook produce feelings of inadequacy among children as they compare themselves and their lives to others that leads to emotional stress.
Tips For Improving the Emotional Health of Students
● Inculcate Coping Skills
Different coping skills for anxiety, stress, anger and other obnoxious emotions can be instilled in students to develop positive emotional regulation in them. Schools may consider some simple fun-filled activities to develop such skills.
● An Open-Door Policy
Students must come and talk to the teachers and counselors about any issues or concerns they have. Schools must communicate this to their students to ensure that they’re always there to listen. Designated teachers trained in child emotional health must be appointed in the best schools in Bangalore to support struggling students.
● Make Emotional Health Known
Emotional health is considered taboo and sufferers often feel embarrassed to talk about it. So, mental health should be a focus in the school. The topic should be discussed in the class or assembly, and awareness days, like world mental health day, should be celebrated to let the students know that they are not alone.
● Mindfulness Breaks
Mindfulness can help students calm down. It allows information to flow to the prefrontal cortex freely which enables them to be more focused, make good decisions and retain information. During the classes, the mentors can ask the students to stop and stretch, or even take some rejuvenating breaths.
● Start a Gratitude Practice
Scientific studies have proved that gratitude can impact the brain and well-being positively. At the beginning or end of each day, students can write at least two things they are grateful for and also they should be encouraged to discuss this with their family or friends.
● Initiate self-care practices
Self-care is not just limited to adults, students should also feel empowered by integrating their favourite activities which will make them feel relaxed, happy, and healthy. Students can do light exercises every day, read books, take music lessons, celebrate their small daily wins, and much more.
Promoting emotional health in schools is something that must be prioritized in the present time. Emotional health issues can affect anyone at any time, so it’s essential the school handles it right and helps the students as much as possible. Ekya Schools is a chain of progressive K-12 institutions committed to standard-based education and the well-being of all students. To know more, visit https://www.ekyaschools.com
