Calm Kids Mean Happy Kids—Mental Wellness for Children

Mental wellness has become a hot topic for adults these days as more and more people have embraced therapy, meditation and self-care as a way to heal themselves—and their childhoods. But when it comes to actual children, many are still firmly in the mindset of stop crying and dust yourself off. Yet we know through our own exploration of mental health that having your emotions validated as a child is important.

Then why aren’t we teaching children the tools of self-regulation and care? Let’s get started with these helpful tips to guide a kid on a mental health journey.

Meditation and Schools

Meditation has already shown to be a positive force in schools. According to CNN, schools that have adopted a mindful meditation room instead of detention have shown to reduce the amount of disciplinary issues at the school overall. And by teaching students how to self-regulate instead of being punished, schools are providing the students with skills that will benefit them in life and better prepare them for stressful interactions whether with family, employers or just out and about.

But self-care cannot operate in a vacuum, students need their emotional needs met at school and at home. Which is why it’s important to teach self-care and self-regulation at home as well.

Introduce Your Children to Self-Care with Calm

Children can have a tough time self-regulating their emotions especially once they hit two years of age. Their brains are literally developing social responses in the moment. And while it might be impossible to get a toddler to do a silent meditation retreat, there are several ways to introduce the concept of meditation early and often.

The meditation app Calm offers guided calming sleep stories featuring favorite characters from Peppa Pig to the Minions. This is a great place to introduce the idea of settling down and self-soothing yourself. Teaching a child to shut off the craziness of the day and lull themself to sleep unaided is an important skill.

And bad sleep is often the starter of a multitude of behavioral and health issues for children, according to the Sleep Foundation. So it’s an important place to start early when introducing kids to a lifetime full of mental health awareness.

Turn Wellness into Fun

While adults might be more interested in a sound bath or an aura cleansing, children need to engage their brains to stay focused. Using stories and characters to help parlay a message is important, which is why Calm has added classic fairy tales and popular characters to their children’s sections.

This is a great way to have kids wind down and settle their bodies even if sleep is not on the table. Even after a child has outgrown naps, a daytime quiet time is helpful to refocus and reenforce their brains and emotional wells.

Calm and Spafinder Means Everyday Wellness

It’s important to prioritize emotional wellness at any point in your life and your family’s life. Learning how to regulate emotions can might be the most useful tool a human can learn as it sets you up with a huge toolbox of techniques to deescalate emotionally stressful situations and navigate the rough waters of life.

That’s why we here at Spafinder have partnered with Calm, the leading mental wellness brand, to bring the app to subscribers at a discounted price through January 31. The offer, which is a first for Spafinder, is available to those who subscribe for Spafinder’s bi-monthly newsletter— whether you are a new subscriber or an existing one. The special promotion is 50 percent off Calm’s annual $69.99 subscription and available to Spafinder subscribers. The discount is solely for new Calm Premium members. And to reward existing newsletter subscribers, Spafinder will distribute a Calm promotional communication to ensure that everyone has a chance to focus on their mental fitness.

We think Calm is a perfect way to take a breath—for you and your kids!