Mental health is important. Students must maintain good mental health because when they don’t, their wellness and performance will deteriorate. As parents, it’s possible to help your student keep their mental health in check. Here are a few things that will improve your child’s mental health:
Taking Frequent Breaks
School is important, but it’s not important enough for a student to work for hours and hours, without a break. Research reveals that students will be less stressed if they’re taking breaks while they’re working. The benefits of taking breaks are endless. Not only does taking breaks help improve your child’s mental health, but it also helps students memorize the material better and become more creative.
Mental and physical health go hand in hand. So, when your student is taking proper breaks during their studying and homework time, they’re going to have more time to rest, which leads to better health. Plus, taking breaks leaves more time for healthy activities, like exercise.
The amount of time your child should work before taking a break varies. Listen to your child and let their attention span guide you. Students in elementary school might need to take breaks every 10 or 15 minutes. This is okay. Let your student truly relax and disengage during the break periods, so that they can buckle down and work after the break.
Not Procrastinating
When students let work pile up, they’re going to have poor mental and physical health. It can be stressful when students have a lot of work to do and little time to complete it. So, to ensure that your child has a positive experience as a student, be sure to help them with time management skills. Your child must know that they cannot wait until the last minute to finish their work.
When work is done at the last minute, your child is going to be forced to underperform, which can lead to confidence issues and feelings of sadness. However, when a student does work when it’s assigned, they’re going to work at their capacity, which will make them feel better about themselves because they’ve done the best they can.
Oftentimes, procrastination happens because students are not very confident in their abilities, or they have anxiety. Try helping your child with positive self-talk. When you do this, you can help them find the courage to get working on their assignments. Also, sometimes procrastination is a sign of perfectionism. So, you must let your child know that not everything needs to be perfect. When a child is focused on perfection, their mental health will suffer, so assure them perfectionism is never necessary.
Regular Tutoring
Sometimes, students need a little bit of extra help in school. If they struggle in a certain subject, they might continue to perform poorly on assessments and assignments. This can negatively impact a student’s mental health. Therefore, to help students thrive in school, providing them with frequent tutoring can help. When a student is doing better in school, their mental health is going to improve. Parents can help the student by hiring a tutor.
Mental Health Matters at The Tenney School
It is predicted that up to 20% of students have some sort of diagnosable mental health condition, but even so, many more students deal with symptoms of depression and anxiety. Your student deserves to maintain good mental health, especially in the high stress environment of today’s schools.
Don’t neglect the signs of stress and anxiety in students. The best way to figure out what’s going on is by asking your student how they feel. Talk to your student and ask them what they need from you. Remember, mental health matters! Contact The Tenney School with any questions. Don’t forget to schedule tutoring with our tutors who specialize in one-to-one learning!