From The Counselling Suite

Helping Your Child Navigate Risks

It is not possible to protect our children from the things that go badly in life; children need to be encouraged to take risks, to explore, to work things out for themselves. As parents, we would prefer to wrap them in cotton wool, to fight their battles, to protect them from every risk that they may encounter. However, not only is it not a good thing to eliminate risks in the child’s life, it simply is not possible! Life is risky and there are many risks in life that cannot be avoided. But what parents can do, is to reduce the impact of the stress which results when things go badly, by helping them develop effective coping strategies.

There are many ways parents can build their child’s resilience so that they cope better with life’s challenges – parents can support their child’s development of protective factors and, in doing so, reduce the likelihood of their child experiencing mental health difficulties.

As a parent you can encourage the growth of protective factors by:

Spending time with your children and having fun together as a family. In this way, supportive relationships in the family grow, and children feel more confident of the support and security that they have in the family. So that when things go wrong, the family acts as a ‘security blanket’ to envelop them and help them cope.
Helping your child to understand and manage their feelings in an appropriate way. Letting them know when things go wrong, they have permission to be angry or sad or scared, and it is OK to let others know that they are angry, sad or scared. Being able to express and name emotions is a key element of good mental well-being.
Providing reassurance and support to your child when things go wrong. Often children become anxious that when one thing goes wrong or bad things happen, everything will get worse. These fears are often expressed through behaviour rather than words, and children need parents to be honest and open with them and to acknowledge their fears – children are not reassured by parents’ dismissal of their anxiety.
Supporting your child to build good communication and problem solving and social skills will help them be more independent when challenged by life’s problems and provide them with the skills needed to work things out for themselves.
Maintaining routines as far as practicable. When everything else in a child’s life is spiralling out of control, the routine of family life provides comfort and security – it is reassuring for a child that some things remain the same no matter what.
Listening to your child and taking seriously their anxieties – sometimes it is easy to be dismissive of their fears, especially when they seem unfounded. But while as a parent you know that there are no monsters under the bed, it is always good to check under the bed with them, and to let them know that you understand that some things are scary and worrisome.

No matter how supportive parents are, some children still show signs of emotional or behavioural difficulties, and in such instances, it is important to seek professional support. In such cases, the Counselling Team is available to provide support and advice, and to refer to appropriate external agencies if necessary.

The Counselling Team is available to advise and support all students and families and can be contacted by email on counselling@bps.sa.edu.au

Parents may also refer their son to the Counselling Team by using the Referral found on the Parent Portal.

Ms Cathie Oswald

SCHOOL COUNSELLOR (Monday, Thursday and Friday)

Mrs Karen Davies

SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST (Tuesday and Thursday)