**updated 2013 Aug 08 ** Forum registration is closed due to overwhelming response
“Stress” is a common commodity in Singapore.
Adults often lament the lack of work life balance, lesser quality of life, rat race in concrete jungle, endless hours of OT (overtime), and recently Phase 2B balloting stress !
Children are not immune to Stress.
Self esteem anxiety, pimples, or maybe trying to live up to parent’s high expectations. These are some of the common issues kids face these days.
In our home, tensions exist between siblings too.
With multiple kids at home and everyone seeking attention, jealously can sometime manifest into “negative” behaviour. Kids can become more selfish, aggressive, possessive, or display a lack of empathy.
Parents need to build a “Warm and Loving” home, so that siblings can nurture their relationships.
How do we cope with Stress ?
When our kids encounter challenges, we show them that a healthy dose of stress is actually beneficial for them to think on their toes (so to speak). It helps imbue a sense of resilience in the kids. We remember how our kids conquer their fear of balancing (cycling) and water (Swimming).
Parents can encourage kids to overcome obstacles, and more importantly, learn from mistakes and failures. We let our children know that we will always support them.
We cannot teach or demonstrate resilience, every child has to experience it for himself.
Daddy knows the easiest way to let kids relax is to bring them FUN (not iPad fun) but outdoor sports, exploring the parks etc. (click for playground stories)
In our eagerness to ensure our kids succeed, we equip them with skills and knowledge, and sometimes set High expectations. Our efforts to “nurture” them might bring them undue stress instead.
A Child’s mental wellbeing
Health Promotion Board (HPB 保健促进局) is aware of a parent’s anxiety.
They have come up with a tool to assess our children’s mental wellbeing.
HPB’s tool is called “Colours of the Mind“. It helps us identify and better understand the different aspects of mental well-being in our children. From a survey of 1000 Singaporean children and about 100 parents, teachers and counselors, the 25 questions quiz is grouped into three categories :
– Positive Functioning
– Social Intelligence
– Emotional Intelligence
For every question, kids need to indicate their results (something like a scale of 1 to 5), and the end result helps us identify the child’s strengths. Parents and teachers can then enhance a child’s strengths, and hope he or she will develop into a confident, resilient and happy child.
To start the Quiz, choose “Child” (recommended for those 6 to 12years old) or “Adult” if you wish to know whether you really understand your child.
Peppered with cute animations, our boys are not stressed with another “assessment”, they actually enjoy the questions 🙂
For Daddy, the quiz provides a platform for him to discover how much he understands the kids. Refer to first two photos above, we are glad that our kids still look for us when they are in doubt 🙂
Daddy hopes the boys learn something new about themselves too.
Are you curious to know more?
Do pop by http://coloursofthemind.sg to try out the quiz with your child too.
At the end of the quiz, the results will be summarised. The quiz has additional tips for improving our child’s wellbeing.
Video : Let us hear more from parents’ testimonials
** Child Mental Wellbeing forum
HPB will be hosting a child mental wellbeing forum targeting parents with kids between 6 to 12 years old on 17 August. The panel of experts will share and discuss parenting challenges, and also tips on how to improve our kids’ mental wellbeing. If you enjoy the quiz, Daddy strongly recommend you to sign up and discover more.
** **updated 2013 Aug 08 ** Forum registration is closed due to overwhelming response
Registration details are available at this link (www.hpb.gov.sg/parentingforum) :
Venue : LASALLE College of the Arts, SIA Theatre
Schedule : 17 August from 2PM to 4.30PM
Registration : Forum is free, and limited to first 500 participants
ColoursOfTheMind : www.coloursofthemind.sg
Do pop by Health Promotion Board (HPB) Website, Fanpage and Twitter for the latest updates on Health Matters.