Kids Inc Celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week

Children’s Mental Health Week, organised by Place2Be is taking place this week, from Monday 7 February to Sunday 13 February 2022.  Mental health awareness is an important matter for both adults and children of all ages and Kids Inc Nurseries are keen to explore how we can help support the children in our care as well as our staff teams.

Exploring Emotions with Children

Did you know that 1 in 6 children and young people have a mental health problem and more struggle with issues such bullying and bereavement?  It is important to identify emotions in children and show them how to explore those when needed.  Our nurseries use many different ways to support children’s understanding of feelings and emotions.  Books such as ‘How Full is Your Bucket?’ and ‘The Worry Monster’ allow children to explore the complexity of emotions in a child friendly environment.

How Are Kids Inc Supporting Children’s Mental Health Week?

We will be using innovative ways to talk about feelings and emotions, as well as supporting national initiatives such as ‘Dressing to Express’.  The children and staff teams will also be talking about how we can support each other through challenging times, so we can learn and grow together.

Our Director of Childcare and Education, Teresa Brooke, comments on the importance of raising awareness:

‘It is imperative that the adults who are involved in children’s lives both at home and in nursery understand and are able to talk openly about mental health and the importance of keeping ourselves emotionally ‘well’.  We expect children to reach certain milestones such as walking, talking, dressing themselves etc., and we give them support and guidance to do so.  As adults, we need the tools and understanding to help children reach emotional milestones, so they grow into resilient and emotionally intelligent grown-ups who can deal with the pressures of the adult world.  Raising awareness through national initiatives and training our staff teams so they understand subtle signs of when children need extra support, is paramount.’

How can we work together to support your child’s emotional and early years development?

The theme for this year’s Children’s Mental Health Week is ‘Growing Together’. This can help us and our children understand that we can adapt and try new things as we grow and learn how to overcome certain feelings.

• Notice your child’s development stages by taking a look at pictures and videos together to understand how much they have grown.
• Try new experiences with your child. This could be trying new food, visiting new places or meeting new people. Following the Covid-19 pandemic, meeting new people and other children is extremely important for your little one’s development. Read more about it in our Covid Impact on Early Years Development blog.
• Discuss dreams and future ambitions – what does your little one want to be when they grow up? We discuss a lot about the future with our pre-school groups at Kids Inc Nurseries.
• Speak to your child about emotions and feelings. Explain how situations help us grow and support them in understanding that it is okay to feel sad.

Contact Us

At Kids Inc Nurseries, we work with you to decide on the next steps in your child’s early years development stages and will help them discover new feelings whilst learning with others.  Please contact us to discuss the care of your little one, meet the team or have a look around one of our nurseries.  We are always here to help, so please either contact our nurseries directly or call our head office team on 020 8598 2600 if you have any queries.