How to take care of the emotional health of your child

Care for your child’s emotional health the way you care for their body: listen before you talk, keep screen time in check, spend real family time together, engage them in activities that nurture the mind, and show affection openly. Take every sign of distress seriously, and consult a child counsellor without hesitation when it feels beyond you.

Your child’s mental health is more important than their grades. Mental stress can affect anyone, and left unattended it grows; many adults assume it is an adult problem, but children are as prone to it as we are. It touches their growth, development, academic performance, relationships and, above all, their emotional quotient.

Why parents cannot afford to look away

The numbers from India are hard to read. The National Crime Records Bureau’s 2021 annual report recorded that 31 children died by suicide every day in India in 2020, and data presented to Parliament showed that between 2017 and 2019, over 24,000 children aged 14 to 18 took their own lives, more than half of them girls. Behind figures like these, the seeds of depression are usually sown long before, which is why parents and educators need to read the cues and act in time.

Childhood and adolescence are critical windows for mental health. The environment a child grows up in shapes their well-being: negative early experiences at home, at school or online, exposure to violence, a caregiver’s mental illness, bullying, poverty, all raise the risk. Worldwide, roughly one in ten children and adolescents experiences a mental disorder, and most never receive care.

What causes mental stress in children?

1. School and academics. Exam pressure, difficulty coping with the classroom, or a sense of failure that erodes morale and self-confidence.
2. Bullying. Statistics suggest bullying affects over a million young people every year, and many children cannot bring themselves to speak about it.
3. Family issues. Violence, divorce or sudden upheaval at home distress a child physically and mentally, because family is the ground they stand on.
4. Peer pressure. Technology, lifestyle comparison, body shaming and shifting standards all press on children through their peers, sometimes hard enough to prompt drastic steps.
5. World events. A pandemic, a war, anything with large-scale impact can register as trauma in a child’s life too.

Schools have a role here as well. The WHO points to models like Social, Emotional and Ethical (SEE) Learning, developed by Emory University in collaboration with the Dalai Lama and already used in Indian schools, which build emotional well-being into education rather than leaving it to marks and rank lists.

How can parents help a child cope?

1. Listen to them

Let them voice their concerns and take real time to hear them out. Much of a child’s stress eases the moment they know someone is truly listening.

2. Talk to them

After listening, have an open discussion. Mix your topics; do not make every conversation an inspection. If you see signs of distress, ask what is bothering them, and if it feels beyond you, consult a child counsellor without shame or delay. That is care, not failure.

3. Keep screen time in check

More screen time means more exposure to material a child is not ready to process. Monitor what reaches them and filter what should not.

4. Spend family time together

Game nights, a film, an occasional picnic. Time spent enjoying each other’s company grows the trust that makes a child come to you when something is wrong.

5. Engage them constructively

Gardening, cooking, free play, anything that occupies the hands and nurtures the mind. Follow their interests, and involve yourself rather than supervising from a distance. Mindfulness practices help many children settle a racing mind.

6. Show affection

Openly and often. A child who feels sure of your affection knows there is somewhere to bring their trouble. Never ignore a sign of distress on the assumption that it will pass; try, as far as you can, to stand in their shoes.

A child does not need you to fix every feeling. They need to know that no feeling of theirs will make you turn away.

All of this sits inside the wider frame of positive parenting: warmth, firm kindness and honest conversation about hard feelings rather than cheerful dismissal of them. And parents matter here in a second way too; your own steadiness is part of your child’s emotional environment.

Dr. V.S. Gayathri is a Certified Dyslexia Therapist, an Orton-Gillingham trained literacy specialist, and the founder of Flourishing Kids. She has delivered over 4,000 hours of one-to-one reading and spelling intervention, helping children across multiple countries build stronger literacy skills. Learning struggles and emotional health are deeply linked; get in touch for a free 15-minute conversation.