Raising Children Who Are Emotionally Healthy

It's widely known that for healthy children, you need toWhen you hold an infant in your arms or read a story
take care of their physical needs. Women often taketo a preschooler, you probably are caught up in the
very good care of their own bodies during pregnancymoment and aren't thinking that you are building the
because they know that it helps the unborn child. Oncewell-being of the community. But it's true. Those little
the child is born, there is a lot of information about howones are going to be parents and members of the
to feed them, burp them, and care for all their needs.community later on. They will be facing challenges that
They are our future, and a lot of attention goes intowe can only imagine, just as we have faced difficulties
this field.and opportunities quite different from those our
But taking care of the emotional needs of infants andparents dealt with.
children is not always as easy to understand. When isParenting involves helping children to learn to get along
it okay to let the baby cry? How important is it to holdwith other people, to learn to leave home and go to
the little one? What kind of bonding needs to happenschool, and eventually to become responsible for what
between the parents and the child? If there is nothey do. Parenting includes helping children develop the
father present, how can you involve other peopledesire to go to school and to interact with the other
besides the mom in the child's life? These are all goodchildren in their class as well as with the adults they
questions, and unfortunately they aren't going to getmeet. No wonder many young parents feel
answered here! However, I will just mention that babiesoverwhelmed by the tasks ahead, especially if they
who are held a lot are more emotionally secure later,are only getting a few hours' sleep at night!
according to some studies.One thing to remember is that each child is unique. If a
The central thing to understand is that the bondingchild doesn't seem to be developing "normally" then
between parents and children is the basic building blockoften parents start to worry. While serious concerns
for the ultimate psychological well-being of the children.should be checked out by a professional, it's also true
As the kids learn to relate to adults within the family,that all children will develop in their own ways. It's often
they take the ways of interacting that they havebest for us to sit back and enjoy the show!
learned and try them out on people they meet.