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(ii) Assuring your child and making it safe for them to express their thoughts and feelings

Like adults, your child can experience a range of feelings such as happiness, sadness, disappointment, and excitement. As it can be daunting and challenging to navigate these complex feelings and related thoughts, they may need your help.

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How can you create a safe space for your child to share their true thoughts and feelings?

Open communication between you and your child can help them recognise and communicate their feelings and thoughts to you for support. However, they may hesitate to do this due to the fear of judgement or being misunderstood. Hence, you play an important role in letting your child know it is perfectly fine to experience difficult feelings and thoughts, and to help your child feel safe to express them to you.

Here are some ways you can create a safe space for your child to share difficult feelings and thoughts with you:

If you are not sure what to do when your child is going through a difficult time, you can let them know that you are concerned, offer to chat about what is on their mind, and ask them questions like “How can I help?” or “What can I do to support you?”.

If you feel things may be going off track during your conversation with your child, it is okay to let them know you would like to take a step back and come back to it later, at a specified time. Inform them that you will use this time to calm down and assure them that you will return to talk to them when you feel calmer or are clearer about what you want to say. Remember to allow your child to take a break if they feel this way as well.

For additional tips on supporting your child, click here.