Parents Urged to Promote Self-awareness in Children

A child counselling expert, Mrs. Lauretta Ani, has advised parents to encourage self-awareness in their children as it is an essential skill to cope in school and beyond. 

The experienced counsellor gave the advice at a parents’ forum recently held at Greensprings School, Lekki campus.

Ani urged parents to teach their children how to name their emotions and respond to them, pointing out that “this knowledge will help children open up appropriately to school staff on challenges they have in school and be provided with adequate help.”

She noted that many children have busy parents who do not have time to listen to them. So, the children go to school with the mindset that nobody will listen to them because everyone is busy. Thus, such children suppress whatever challenges they experience until things get out of control.

She urged parents to listen to their children and validate their emotions by teaching them how to know what they are feeling and how to respond adequately. 

“For instance, when angry, children should know what to do. They can take deep breaths or engage in art or writing therapy to help deal with the anger they feel. They can only know about these responses if their emotions are validated at home.”

Ani added that schools also have a role to play in helping children to be self-aware by complementing the efforts of parents. 

“While parents do their part to make their children self-aware, schools must also design programmes that will reinforce their children’s self-awareness. For instance, at Greensprings School, we teach our students about self-assessment, goal-setting, character development, and emotional intelligence – and all these help them to become responsible individuals. We also organise frequent forums aimed at discussing proper ways of raising children,” she said.