How to Nurture Your Child’s Mental Health

Adults have a tendency to remember childhood as an easy time. However, children can struggle to cope with a world that always seems to be changing around them. They may also be influenced by outside influences, such as being bullied and the pressures of social media. You never know what your child is facing unless you talk to them. Here are some important steps you can take to nurture your child’s mental health. 

Practice Active Listening

When your child talks to you, listen. Pay attention to tone, body language and other indicators of how your child feels. Consider how they’re saying what they’re telling you. If your child tells you they’re not doing well, they’ve taken a brave step that they may have mulled over for a while. Let them know you’re there for them, and if action is required on your part, take it as soon as you can. 

Provide Sufficient Structure

Children thrive when given routines and activities that keep them engaged. Making plans with your child — and keeping them — can set you apart as a solid foundation in their ever-changing life. Being reliable may not feel like much if it comes naturally to you, but it can make all the difference in a child’s life. This is especially true when things don’t go their way.

Avoid Over Scheduling

Scheduling is good, but over scheduling can lead your child to be overwhelmed. If your child is never bored, they don’t have a lot of time for independent thought. Having time to themselves to do whatever they want is essential to having balance in life. People of all ages could benefit from setting aside a little more time for play. 

Allow for Failure

It can be hard to watch your child fail when it’s something they’ve put a lot of time and energy into. However, failing is an essential part of life. Your child needs to know how to fail and overcome their failures after feeling what they feel in the moment. Giving your child permission to fail is as important as celebrating their accomplishments. This is the only way to build resilience, which will become essential as they grow older and more independent.  

Encourage Healthy Habits

Taking care of your body is crucial if you want to have a healthy mind. Children may not make this connection. When they lose a few nights of sleep to their new favorite game, they might be perplexed about why they’re starting to feel depressed or anxious. Encourage your child to get in a few minutes of moderate physical activity a day, eat nourishing foods and get adequate sleep every night. This can extend to personal hygiene as well, especially for teenagers who often let it slip. The better your child feels physically, the better they’ll generally feel mentally. 

At North Tampa Christian Academy, we recognize the importance of mental health for students, especially as they grow and develop. Students at our Tampa private school thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.

How the Health Office Serves NTCA’s Student Body

Children often have aches that they can’t explain. When they walk into the Health Office at NTCA, Jody Cline helps them get to the root of the issue. She looks at every student who comes in as a whole person, not just a scratched up knee or a case of the sniffles. The goal is to allow children to return to class and get back to learning. 

“The goal is to treat students holistically,” Cline said. “If the child can be treated in the Health Office and return back to class, we’ve accomplished our goal.” 

Getting to the Root Cause

Students come into the Health Office with headaches and stomachaches that may be caused by anxiety or stress. Children have a difficult time making this connection, so it’s important that they have a chance to talk through it with a trusted adult. The pandemic causes students a lot of anxiety, especially those who recently returned to in-person instruction. Each student is evaluated based on their needs to see if there’s a problem that needs to be addressed.

“Instead of blindly following the rules, we look at each student as an individual and consider their specific circumstances,” Danae Gillam said.

Facilitating Care

The school keeps track of every visit and what each child is experiencing. The office also stores medications that students need to take. Emergency care items are collected at the Health Office to be distributed to classrooms when needed. There’s an almost constant flow of students who need help and who, in a public school setting, would be sent home, leaving the burden of figuring out the problem on their parents. 

Students also receive care during school sponsored off campus events. The Health Office sends sports bags with medicine, splints, etc. to the traveling sports teams when they leave campus for games. They also send field trip bags with first aid, paperwork, meds, etc., that students may need when leaving school for the day.

Helping Parents

When children are sent home from school, the burden of taking care of them falls on the parents. With Health Office staff caring for each child as an individual, it is often easier to get to the core of the issue. A child who frequently visits the office could be experiencing anxiety. In this case, the counselor or chaplain is available to help with the parents’ consent. Since the office keeps detailed records, the school can also inform parents if a child needs medical assistance. 

Not Just for Students

Teachers, staff, faculty, and students at both North Tampa Christian Academy and the North Tampa Christian Explorers preschool benefit from the Health Office. Since the school has innovative tools in various classrooms, teachers occasionally come in with injuries from machinery. Maintenance workers also come in with injuries. The idea is to avoid a situation where they need to go to the hospital when possible and to make sure they get there if they need to go. 

How it Started

Before the Covid-19 pandemic, the receptionist or administrative assistant at NTCA would be in charge of giving out band-aids, ice packs, etc., as well as their administrative duties. This made life difficult for teachers, who would often have to take on the burden themselves. When students returned to in-person classes, it was clear that something needed to change. 

In August 2020, the health office was among the many new services offered to students to help with the effects of the ongoing pandemic. Much like NTCA’s partner AdventHealth states in their tagline, the goal of this program is “extending the healing ministry of Christ.” The main difference is that the Health Office offers holistic solutions and the opportunity for students to continue learning after visiting. Children don’t always need to go home or go to the doctor when they’re not feeling well. 

“Sometimes, a kid comes in and just needs a 5-minute break, and we give it to them. If they need a minute of prayer, we give it to them,” Cline said.

At North Tampa Christian Academy, a Tampa private school, students thrive creatively, academically and spiritually in a project-based learning environment. Faculty and families work together to inspire leadership through Christian innovation. Contact us today to learn more.