You cannot expect your child to always be happy but, as Beth Kerr, Cognita Global Director of Wellbeing, explains, there are vital things you can do as a parent which help encourage healthy patterns of sleep, diet and exercise.

It can be difficult to know exactly how to define happiness, and there are a multitude of terms that are used interchangeably to describe a child’s overall wellbeing. It is therefore important to outline a framework to explore how we can help our children become confident, content and healthy little people.

If we define wellbeing as a sense of being content, comfortable and healthy – and that it is made up of physical and mental wellness – we can then begin to look at what contributes to these symbiotic terms. There is no panacea to good mental health, but we do know that connecting with others, doing something that brings fulfilment and giving to others are all things that contribute to it and, of course, physical health is critically inter-related. It is built upon good sleep, a healthy diet and regular exercise.

You can read the full article published in Attain Magazine, here.