Each of us are born with the core needs of security (who can I trust?), belonging (who wants me?) and identity (who am I?). As parents of children and adolescents, there are many ways to meet these needs. Here are just a few ideas to guide your efforts to help your child feel secure.
- Listen to Learn
To develop trust with your child and create a home that is a safe haven for their emotional needs, one of the best things you can do is to listen to learn, instead of listening only to correct or fix a problem.
- Manage Your Own Emotions
Children learn best when their parent(s) model the desired behavior they want from their children when responding to triggers of stress and anxiety. Difficulty managing your emotions around, or in response to, your children will interfere with the lessons and behaviors you are trying to teach them.
- Validate Your Child’s Emotions
Validating your child’s emotions helps them learn how to communicate what they are feeling so that they can be taught how to express their feelings in a healthy way. It is important to remember, that just because something does not bother you the parent, it does not mean that it won’t bother your child.
- Give Your Full Attention
Another way to help a child feel secure is to give them your full attention when they want to talk or when you need to talk to them. With such easy access to all things technology, it can be easy to give our children partial attention at best and no attention at worst, which can communicate to them that they are not as important as that email…text….video…etc.
Parenting Support in Charlotte, NC
At Southeast Psych in Charlotte, NC, we understand that parenting can be challenging, but you don’t have to navigate it alone. Our child psychologists specialize in parenting strategies, child development, and behavioral support to help families build strong, healthy relationships.
We offer therapy sessions, parenting workshops, and individualized support tailored to your family’s unique needs.