If you want your child to be happy, stay healthy, and have meaningful relationships with others when they grow into an adult, they should practice self-care from a young age.

We know to take care of our physical health we need to exercise, drink water, and eat healthily. Yet with the focus of health now shifting to include the importance of mental health as well, teaching your children that taking care of themselves mentally and emotionally is extremely imperative as well.

Practicing self-care as a parent is the easiest way of influencing this habit onto your children. It’s teaching them how they feel on the inside matters just as much as what is on the outside. It also teaches that it’s okay for them to have low or imperfect days, but what matters most is what they do to make themselves feel better.