How can parents support their children’s needs?

Have you ever struggled with raising your children successfully? New mums and dads often find it challenging to support their children’s needs. For some information and tips, we spoke to Safa Khalid, a childcare student at City of Glasgow College.

Safa said: “It is important to work with parents and families to help support children in the best possible ways as they have the greatest knowledge about their children’s needs and therefore can help lead to better outcomes for children and support them if they need additional support.”

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child says that there are 54 Articles of children’s rights which have been designed to provide better education for children, help them avoid illnesses, protect them from abuse and exploitation and also ensure that they can make decisions that affect their lives. This is crucial in helping children have a better future and providing them with the essential rights they need such as education and health.

Adults must ensure that all children have their rights for access to health care, education and safety in order to promote their wellbeing. They should make sure that children are getting the right support according to what they need and regardless of their colour, race, nationality and religion. More importantly, children need to feel that they are respected, understood and heard whenever they are in need.

Parents can help their children with their behaviour, learning and overall health (physical and mental). Safa said: “Parents can also increase children’s development and learning abilities and therefore help them fulfill their potential and dreams. They can also help their children to accept diversity through getting involved in many different activities and getting to know different people to increase their confidence and communication skills so they become more socialised in the future.”

Another essential element in supporting children is by observation which is the practice of observing, listening, asking questions and evaluating children's words and behaviour as they communicate with their environment and other individuals. Observation is critical in helping educators and parents meet the needs of early childhood growth.

Safa said: “There are many different types of observation such as narrative, time sample and frequency observation. Narrative observation is by watching the child’s activities and recording everything the child does and acts. Time sample is an observation which is made over a specific period of time to watch for the child’s activities frequency. Observation is a method to measure the number of times when any behaviour occurs within a given period.

“The importance of observing children helps to understand the child's strengths and weaknesses and therefore will enable adults to improve their care to suit the child’s needs in their behaviour development and learning abilities. Child observation should be based on what is actually seen and heard and should be as detailed as possible to help provide the best support.”

Moreover, adults can support children during their activities and when they play with their friends at home. Safa said: “Adults can help children by communicating with them while they play so they feel they are always heard and have someone to talk with, and by providing them with the suitable equipment for their age and showing them how to do the activity properly. Also, by encouraging children to take part and praising them when they do the activity.”

There are different types of activities that benefit children to keep them entertained and improve their creativity too. For example hand-painting, puzzle, play-dough, sand, drawing, reading stories and dancing too. There are also imaginative activities such as dress-up and role-play where children can pretend to be another character and have fun with each other. Webanywhere Ltd provides further information on different types of observation.

Safa said: “The benefit of these activities is to improve children’s confidence and self-esteem as they engage with other classmates and teachers too. Also, children will gain the opportunity to learn new experiences and skills so they become more successful and talented in their future. More importantly, it helps them lower stress level and improves their overall wellbeing and health.”