Working in partnership is key to supporting emotional wellbeing
There are many changes, transitions and difficulties that children can face in the early years and one of the most effective ways to support a child is to work in close partnership with parents. Parents may not always want to immediately make you aware that a child is experiencing a change or difficulty. Therefore have some easy tools available to support children so that parents can access these without feeling embarrassed or pressured. These home learning packs or resources do not need to be filled will activity sheets or workbooks in the typical ‘homework’ fashion but can instead be simply books to share, or story sacks with a book and accompanying resources, puppets, or emotions flashcards. You may also like to provide behaviour support strategies here too such as behaviour charts, reward charts, and leaflets. It is a great idea to place these in an accessible place that parents can easily use and help themselves too.
What could I include to support emotional wellbeing?
Some of the things you may want to consider or base these resources around are:
- A new baby – This is something that parents are often concerned about and want to prepare a sibling for. You may want to include a book, dolly, dolly nappies, blankets and bottles so that the family can play with these, talk to the child and prepare them for the changes
- Separation – Parents separating can sometimes be difficult for children to understand and deal with so having books to support this can be useful. This may be one of the things that at first parents may not want to bring to your attention as a practitioner but may still want to help their child deal with
- Starting school – This may seem like an obvious one but have books that children can take home also supports the parents and the children
- Moving home – This can be a very big change for children especially if they are moving away from family and friends
- Same-sex parents – This can often be difficult for other children to understand and creating an understanding is incredibly important for ensuring all children and families feel included and valued
- Diversity – Children may start becoming aware that they are different or that others are different, having books and resources to support this is great for British Values, supporting children’s emotional wellbeing and inclusive practice.
Click the above links to see some fantastic books that are available to support young children through these issues. We would love to know what else you would add to these resources?