Description:

Promoting wellbeing in young children has many important benefits for all aspects of a child’s health. It is essential to a child’s overall physical and mental health. Wellbeing supports a child’s ability to overcome difficulties, gives confidence and builds self-esteem, assists children to build positive relationships with others and supports positive behaviour.

When we feel stressed or anxious our bodies tend to breathe in a shallow and fast manner. A simple way to help our bodies and minds relax is to belly breathe. The easiest way to learn and practice this useful tool is to place a special rock or a small teddy/toy on to your child’s belly. Next ask your child to breathe deeply in through their nose into their tummy making sure their special rock or teddy/toy moves up with each inhale. The rock/teddy will then fall with each exhale. You can help your child count to 3 with each inhale and to 4 with each exhale. The more practice your child has the easier this technique is!

Promote learning by:

• Discussing with your child how their bodies feel when they breathe in different ways i.e. Short shallow breaths vs long belly breaths
• Discussing different feelings with your child e.g. happy/sad/worried/angry. What does it feel like? What does their breathing feel like?