Loving relationships are essential to supporting children’s learning and development, but these relationships are of equal importance to families too. To be able to best provide children with supporting environments, adults need to feel loved and cared for themselves.
It is important that parents and carers feel listened to and responded to; they need to be surrounded be people who care for them and support them. This doesn’t just mean close family members, but can also include friends or the wider community.
When strong, supportive connections are formed, everyone benefits: the parent/carer, the child, friends, the wider family and the local community. Parents and carers can feel more confident and happier in themselves, which will a positive impact on their children too.
But how can you support families with this within our settings? How can you help them to build connections with other adults and the wider community?
Supporting families
Recent research found that more than half of parents and carers in the UK have experienced loneliness. It is important, therefore, to consider what can be done within your setting help to combat this.
Not everyone finds making new connections easy, so consider how you support and encourage anxious family members who may feel nervous or uncertain. We understand that every child is unique, but that also means every family is unique too! So how can practice be adapted to meet these individual needs?
Can you, for example, provide extra time to speak to these family members, and find out more about them? Or perhaps you could introduce a buddy system for parents and carers where you can introduce them to another parent or carer, helping to establish those important connections.
Think about how you could encourage families to be involved in the wider community too. One of the main benefits of building these connections is that it can help to combat loneliness and isolation which will in return have a positive impact on not only physical and mental health of individuals, but also the health of the community as the whole.
Do you, for example, promote local volunteering opportunities or events, visiting the local library or children’s centre, or just meeting other families at the local park? Evidence shows that spending time with others in nature has a positive effect on wellbeing. Perhaps you could create a community noticeboard within your setting for families to find out about what else is happening in their local area.
Remember too that it isn’t just about building new friendships. While it is great to have new friends who are also parents and carers to be able to share parenting challenges and advice with, it is also important to maintain connections with other friends and family. These are often the people adults can truly confide in about worries or concern, or just have a good giggle!
Encourage parents and carers to think about how they can make time for themselves to help keep these connections strong. Maybe while their child is in your setting, you could suggest they call a friend or meet a friend for a walk. Remind them that spending time with people they love isn’t selfish; it is an important part of looking after their own wellbeing so that they can best support their child.
Benefits for children
Being a parent or carer can be difficult at time, but evidence shows us that adults who look after their own wellbeing – through meaningful connections, sleep better, are less stressed and have a better quality of life and a sense of belonging – in turn provide the most effective support to their children. Remember the saying ‘You can’t pour from an empty cup’ – important connections will help to keep adults’ wellbeing ‘cup’ full, meaning they are better able to cope with life’s challenges.
Making connections isn’t just with people outside of the home. Discuss with families the benefits of quality time in connecting with their child and other family members. This doesn’t have to involve expensive days out: it can be as simple as preparing a meal together, going on a family walk or playing a game together. This not only helps everyone to feel good but helps children to feel listened to and understood which will positively impact their confidence and wellbeing too.
Finally, modelling the building of relationships to young children will support them with important life skills in making their own connections through positive relationships as they grow.