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How to Support Kids’ Mental Health: Tips from Nemours Children’s Health

Parents can help kids handle worries, stress, and depression with calm, caring support. Here are tips from the pediatric experts at Nemours Children’s Health:

Handling Worry

• Listen patiently and provide reassurance when kids share worries. Avoid minimizing their concerns.
• Emphasize their strengths and abilities to handle challenges.
• Help put worries into perspective. Use calming techniques like deep breathing.

Managing Stress

• Teach kids to recognize stress signals like headache or stomachache.
• Encourage healthy stress outlets like exercise, hobbies, or talking to trusted friends/adults.
• Model self-care like taking breaks, having fun, and staying balanced.

Getting Help for Depression

• Watch for signs of depression like persistent sadness, isolation, sleep/appetite changes.
• Openly discuss mental health. Don’t criticize their feelings.
• Guide teens to share their feelings with a parent and seek professional help if needed. Reassure them support is available.

Nemours Children’s Health provides trusted pediatric care at locations across the Delaware Valley. Their compassionate doctors and nurses help kids achieve optimal physical, mental, and emotional health. Visit Nemours.org to learn more.