Looking after yourself – think about the five ways to wellbeing

Your toddler is learning so much about themselves now and starting to want to be more independent and make choices. This is a brilliant time for their development but can be a challenging time for you – and with a busy life it can be easy to forget about looking after your wellbeing. Stop for a moment today and think about how you take care of yourself as well as your toddler.

You probably spend lots of time thinking about how to support your toddler with their emotions, but the first step in helping them to regulate is making sure your own self-care doesn't get neglected.

Connect

Think about how you make time to connect with the people that are important to you, be it a video call with a close friend or meeting at the park for a walk and a chat.

Going along to a group activity for you and your child or chatting to other parents at your child’s nursery or childminder’s could be a good way to make some new connections.

Be active

You might feel you're nailing this one already with all the running around you're doing!! But it is always worth thinking about if there are ways that you could be more active just for you; this could be anything from a walk to the park, to agreeing with a friend to take up a fitness class or a running challenge.

We all have different things that we enjoy doing but finding ways you enjoy being active is great for your wellbeing and might give you a chance to meet some new people too.

Take notice

This can be a challenge when you have young children as you are often very busy, but try to slow down when you can and notice what is around you.

Sometimes a walk with your toddler can be a great way to do this, especially if you have nowhere in particular to go – they might notice a bug walking on a wall or become fascinated with some pebbles or the cracks in the pavement. Getting absorbed in little unnoticed details can be a really calming thing to do!

Learn

This does not have to be learning for a qualification – it could be anything that interests you: reading a few blogs or articles in the app, doing a word puzzle, taking up a new hobby or reading a book.

Give

This isn’t necessarily about giving things but about helping others. It might be that you get involved in a community group with (or without) your child, or simply help a friend.

5 steps to mental wellbeing - NHS (www.nhs.uk)

Five ways to wellbeing | Mind, the mental health charity - help for mental health problems