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Mental and emotional health is something we’ve only recently seriously started to consider in workplaces and schools. But the earlier we can start supporting children’s emotional health, the better we can set them up for success.
While we do our best to do this naturally, children can receive greater benefit when we implement support strategies consciously. So how can we do this? Here are three ways you can offer your children more emotional and mental health support in your setting.
Ensure Children Feel Loved and Included
The responsibility for making children feeling loved mainly lies with the parents, guardians, and other family members. However, children spend a significant amount of time with us, so they need to feel safe, valued and loved when they’re with us too.
Providing your children with this is incredibly simple, but can be lost in the routine of working day-to-day. Ensure you and your employees look children in the eyes and tell them how happy you are to see them each day. You should also praise them regularly and have fun with them.
Another way to make them feel loved is to do your best to include them in every activity. While some children are introverted and will prefer to do certain things alone throughout the day, knowing they are wanted and are choosing to do something on their own will help them feel loved and independent.
Spend Time Outside and/or With Nature
Research from Brighton and Sussex Medical School found that natural sounds and environments help us to relax more easily. You can share this experience with your little ones by exploring the outdoors or by bringing nature indoors using houseplants.
Ensure you take them outside daily whenever possible, simply to play or to do something more educational. If you have the room, try planting flowers or simple vegetables to get them invested in nature and going outside regularly to care for the plants.
Alternatively, bring nature inside with houseplants, indoor seed trays, or a small aquarium in a quiet area where the children can go to if they’re feeling low or overwhelmed.
Support Emotional Health Through Creativity
Children and adults alike enjoy expressing themselves through creativity. This is something you can encourage in your setting. Try offering children something new. If they normally paint or play with building blocks, give them basic instruments. They could also play with creative apps, or simply make up stories.
Allow children to be creative as groups and alone. This means less vocal children have a chance to express themselves as they desire without the pressure of competing against more outgoing children.
There are also plenty of ways to work with other organisations to encourage emotional wellbeing in your setting. My Happy Mind runs two programs for early years organisations and provides parents with an app to help them monitor their child’s mental wellbeing.

Did you know that we are a school that supports breastfeeding? Our school understands that mothers want to provide the best nutrition for their babies, and our teachers are trained to handle pumped breast milk so breastfeeding moms can put their mind at ease.
We are proud to be a premier school that is breastfeeding friendly – our caregivers are trained in the safe storage and handling of milk.
In our journey to become a more breastfeeding friendly school we found that mothers were often worried about their milk supply and quality.
We felt compelled to help out mothers to keep up their supply while giving the best nutrition they could to their little ones and the idea to develop lactation cookies came up one day!
We definitely understood that breastfeeding is hard work and we worked and collaborated together with a mother who struggled a lot when she was trying to breastfeed her first child.
That is why we created our nutritious lactation cookies to help breastfeeding mothers to take a break from all that worrying. Our special recipe helps improve milk supply and is packed with ingredients that are important for the health of a breastfeeding mom!
Many breastfeeding moms who have consumed our cookies have given us positive feedback that they enjoy having a healthy snack on hand which helps to nourish their body while they are nursing.
Breastfeeding moms often find that their appetite increases significantly while they’re nursing and it is important to eat nourishing food!
You can purchase our delicious lactation cookies by clicking the product icon in the website. On that note, we wish a happy two year journey of breastfeeding your cute bundle of joy.

Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. According to the Centers for Disease Control, autism affects an estimated 1 in 59 children.
One of the most important things you can do as a parent or caregiver is to learn the early signs of autism and become familiar with the typical developmental milestones that your child should be reaching.
The timing and severity of autism’s early signs vary widely. Some infants show hints in their first months. In others, symptoms become obvious as late as age 2 or 3.
Not all children with autism show all the signs. Many children who don’t have autism show a few. That’s why professional evaluation is crucial.
The following “red flags” may indicate your child is at risk for an autism spectrum disorder. If your child exhibits any of the following, please don’t delay in asking your pediatrician or family doctor for an evaluation:
By 6 months
Few or no big smiles or other warm, joyful and engaging expressions.
Limited or no eye contact.
By 9 months
Little or no back-and-forth sharing of sounds, smiles or other facial expressions
By 12 months
Little or no babbling
Little or no back-and-forth gestures such as pointing, showing, reaching or waving
Little or no response to name.
By 16 months
Very few or no words.
By 24 months
Very few or no meaningful, two-word phrases (not including imitating or repeating)
At any age
Loss of previously acquired speech, babbling or social skills
Avoidance of eye contact
Persistent preference for solitude
Difficulty understanding other people’s feelings
Delayed language development
Persistent repetition of words or phrases (echolalia)
Resistance to minor changes in routine or surroundings
Restricted interests
Repetitive behaviors (flapping, rocking, spinning, etc.)
Unusual and intense reactions to sounds, smells, tastes, textures, lights and/or colors
Oftentimes, there is a wait for a formal evaluation or services. Fortunately, there are a number of actions you can take while you wait. Below is a list of suggested activities:
Be persistent.
You may try calling the office or clinic again to see if an appointment opens up sooner. If there is a research study in your area that offers diagnosis and evaluation services, consider participating.
Learn more about developmental delays and services and treatments available to help your child. This will help you develop a list of questions for the specialist and prepare you to take action if your child is diagnosed with autism or another developmental disability.
Know what to expect. Your child may have to complete one or more cognitive or “thinking skills” tests, and you will be asked questions about your child’s behavior and development. In addition, you’ll probably fill out one or more “checklists.” In all, the evaluation will take at least several hours and more than one appointment to complete.
Gather information. It is recommended to put together a folder with your child’s medical records and any previous developmental or behavioral evaluations your child has received. Bring your notes on your own observation of your child’s behavior in different places and with different people.
Arrange to bring someone with you. Many parents find the process emotional. Rather than go it alone, consider who you can ask to come with you to help you take notes on what was said and help you make sure your questions get answered.
Prepare to get your child’s intervention started. Even if your child is not diagnosed with autism, the evaluation may reveal developmental delays that would benefit from intervention. The professionals conducting your child’s evaluation can provide you with phone numbers and guidance.

Dear Parents,
I read with concern and sadness about the recent cases of rampant child abuse reported in local newspapers.
As a child care giver and owner of a nursery and kindergarten myself my heart goes out to the parents who have entrusted their children to these irresponsible and cruel individuals who have done such heinous acts against innocent children.
I would like to advice parents to really put in the extra effort and to do a background research on nurseries, kindergartens or childcare center to ensure the safety of their precious children. It would be good for parents to send their children where the teachers and caregivers are trained to care for children and where there are CCTV’s where activities of caregivers can be monitored (especially in the case of small babies)!
Studies have shown that it is critical to invest early in children, such as raising them in an appropriate living home and providing love and care for them. Children are the future, and it is our responsibility to raise them in the best condition as possible.
It is my sincere hope that we caregivers and parents can work together to provide a better and safe environment for our children – maybe the government can also look into providing parents who work long hours and are experiencing financial difficulties with childcare facilities that is regulated and safe.
But as a caregiver – I would just like to point out that it is better to pay an extra amount to a regulated and verified childcare center or school than risk situations such as abuse by sending children to nannies or centers with unqualified personnel.
Yours,
The Principal