Five-year-olds are learning so many new things, like making friends, understanding feelings, and starting school. These experiences can be exciting and sometimes a little scary. Children can begin to understand and take care of their mental health by talking about emotions and learning simple ways to feel better.

Children between the ages of five and ten are experiencing lots of changes as they grow, like learning new things in school, making friends, and understanding their feelings. These changes can sometimes feel big and even a little overwhelming, especially without tools to help manage emotions. Your support as a parent or someone in a parenting role is essential in helping them learn how to take care of their mental health and build strong emotional skills.

Sometimes, tough things like family challenges or difficult experiences can affect a child’s mental health. Getting professional support can be helpful if your family is going through something challenging. The steps here, though, can guide you in helping your child develop everyday skills to handle feelings and build resilience.

Mental health is just as important as physical health! Children face challenges like feeling nervous about school, getting frustrated with friends, or dealing with big feelings. Helping your child learn about mental health can help them:

● Feel calm and confident about handling their feelings

● Make and keep friends by learning empathy and kind communication

● Understand their own feelings and why they feel a certain way

Your child is learning to identify their feelings and find words to express them. Teaching emotional awareness helps them communicate effectively and prevents them from becoming overwhelmed by strong emotions. By learning simple coping strategies early on, your child can handle setbacks or disappointments more easily and develop confidence in their ability to manage difficult situations. The coping skills and emotional tools you help your child develop now can stay with them throughout their lives. Early mental health habits, like talking about feelings or using calming techniques[1] , set the stage for stronger mental health in adolescence and adulthood.

By focusing on mental health at this stage, parents and those in a parenting role are helping their children feel supported, capable, and ready to handle whatever comes their way, creating a foundation for lifelong well-being.

These five steps can help your child build skills that support their mental health and make them more resilient.

Tip: Intentional communication[2] and actively growing a healthy parenting relationship[3] will support these steps.

Ask your child questions to help them understand and express their feelings[4] . This process promotes self-awareness and encourages them to recognize emotions in others.

Questions to Ask:

● “What made you happy or excited today?”

● “Did anything make you feel a little sad or frustrated?”

● “Is there something you felt worried about today?”

● “What do you think that person (or character in a book or on TV) is...

As a parent or someone in a parenting role, you play an essential role in your child’s success. There are intentional ways to grow a healthy parent-child relationship, and setting up a daily homework routine provides a perfect opportunity.

Five to ten-year-olds are in the process of establishing critical learning habits, including how they approach homework, that will extend throughout their school years. For most children, homework is a nightly reality. Children with a parent or someone in a parenting role supporting learning at home and engaging in their school community have more consistent school attendance, better social skills, and higher grade point averages and test scores than those without such support. ^1^ Indeed, parental involvement best predicts students’ academic achievement.

Yet, there are challenges. “I don’t want to do homework. I haven’t had any time to play,” might be a frequent complaint you hear from your seven-year-old. Your child may push back when they have other goals in mind. Their goal - “How can I play longer?” - is typical.

A National Center on Families Learning study found that 60% of American families struggle to help children with homework.^2^ More than 25% admit that they struggle because they are too busy, up from just over 20% in 2013. Other reasons parents identified for having trouble with helping with homework were not understanding the subject matter (34%) and pushback from their kids (41%).^3^

While getting a regular homework routine going might be a challenge, it can be a joyful experience that promotes valuable skills for school and life success. The steps below include specific, practical strategies and effective conversation starters to support a homework routine in cooperative ways that avoid a daily battle.

Five and six-year-olds will be brand new to the homework experience, and you will have an opportunity to establish positive habits that will stay with them for years. Seven, eight, nine, and ten-year-olds will bring new academic challenges home, like reading with competence and learning fractions. Additionally, they may be expected to complete long-term projects. This will take a whole new level of planning and organization. In addition to reinforcing the lessons taught in the classroom, homework teaches students essential executive function skills, including the ability to plan, organize, prioritize, and execute tasks. Homework is a reality for most students, and assignments can become challenging if regular routines are not established. Today, in the short term, establishing effective homework habits will create

● greater cooperation and motivation

● more significant opportunities for connection and enjoyment as you implement your respective roles and feel set up for success

● trust in each other that you have the competence to complete your responsibilities with practice and care

● reduced frustrations from a lack of organization, space, or resources

● learning about your child’s school curriculum

Tomorrow, in the long term, homework helps your child

● build skills in collaboration and cooperative goal-setting

● build skills in responsible decision-making, hard work, and persistence

● gains independence, life skills competence, and self-sufficiency

● develop positive learning habits that contribute directly to school success

This five-step process helps your family establish a homework routine and builds essential skills in your

As a parent or someone in a parenting role, your influence is pivotal in your child’s success. There are intentional ways to foster a healthy parent-child relationship while instilling confidence in your child to persist toward their goals and succeed in all areas of life. Everyone faces challenges, yet mistakes and failures are necessary for your five-year-old’s learning and development. With your guidance and support, mistakes become a tool for learning and growing confidence.

The key to any parenting issue is finding ways to communicate to meet your and your child’s needs. The steps below include specific, practical strategies and effective conversation starters to prepare you as you address any issue with your child.

As you address any issues, you build the foundation for your child’s development.

Your focus on cultivating a safe, trusting relationship and promoting life skills can create:

● greater opportunities for connection, cooperation, and enjoyment

● trust in each other

● a sense of well-being and motivation

Engaging in these five steps is an investment that builds your skills as an effective parent or someone in a parenting role to use on any issues and builds essential skills that will last a lifetime for your child. Throughout this tool, there are opportunities for children to:

● become more self-aware and deepen their social awareness

● exercise their self-management skills

● build their relationship skills

● demonstrate and practice responsible decision-making and problem-solving

This five-step process helps you and your child with any issue. It builds critical life skills in your child. The same process can be used to address other specific parenting issues (learn more about the process[1] ).

Whether it’s your child having difficulty meeting new friends or you are dealing with your feelings of inadequacy when trying to respond to your child’s frustration, these steps can be applied to any situation to support your child. You can tailor these questions and statements to match any arising issue.

Tip: These steps are best done when you and your child are not tired or in a rush.

Tip: Intentional communication[2] and healthy parenting relationships[3] will support these steps.

Based on your child’s development milestones, you will want to focus on the following as you move through the five steps:

● supporting child’s growing sense of autonomy - being able to do things or make basic decisions, like what to wear, on their own

● practicing consistency with expected behavior, rules, and consequences

● encouraging flexibility while supporting your child’s need for structure

● modeling positive social skills, responsible choices, and going easy on yourself when you make mistakes (noticing self-talk)

● supporting and offering ways to regulate strong emotions

Getting your child’s input will help you better understand their thoughts, feelings[4] , and challenges...