How to Distract Your Child to Prevent a Mental Breakdown

Protecting your child's mental well-being from being fractured at any point in life may necessitate specific techniques.One such technique is to distract your child from painful or uncomfortable situations to avoid a mental breakdown and allow them to move on with better feelings.You can distract your kid by engaging them in kitchen activities together.Generally, kids love pastries, and many of them find it exciting to be involved in the making.From helping with the batter and measuring the ingredients, they will have a swell time while forgetting the adverse incidents.Moreover, you can play dress-up with your kid.Kids are explorers, and their exploration mindset will cause them to venture into cloth-testing. You can easily distract your child with your big clothes or your partner's clothes.They will enjoy fitting into the clothes and trying to walk with them.Similarly, you can distract a kid by putting them before the television and putting on their favorite cartoons.Kids are generally transfixed by the actions on the TV and will sit still, absorbing the rapidly changing scenes while forgetting what could have caused a breakdown.If you desire to learn how to distract your child in uncomfortable situations to prevent a mental breakdown, you should read on:

Bake Pastries Together

Baking with your child can be an enjoyable activity, and it can also help them exit uncomfortable situations with ease.As you want to distract your child with baking, understand that the activity will be messy, and you should get comfy with that.You can let them choose the recipe so they would have a form of control over the activity.Such little form of control will help them feel happy that you are trusting them to make a critical decision.Whether they choose vanilla, strawberry, lemon, or orange cake, be ready to bake it with them.Even though they choose the recipe, they shouldn't be the ones to do most baking tasks.As the supervisory adult, you will have to do most of the tasks, especially the mentally intensive ones.You should give them little tasks they can quickly complete to prevent frustration.After the baking session, be sure to share the goodies in a way that would elicit more positive feelings.Don't just serve them like a robot.Instead, compliment them for their superb baking skills and thoughtfulness in choosing the perfect recipe.

Play Dress-up

During an emotionally painful moment, you can distract your child by encouraging them to play dress-up.Kids generally play with what's easily accessible.So, you should have the necessary items nearby for them to start the activity.To avoid them outgrowing the game quickly due to boredom, you can ensure there's a rotation of the materials.You can move more clothes and shoes from your wardrobe to their dress-up collection.You may similarly buy costumes for them.If the high cost of the costumes worries you, be at rest.You can build costumes from makeshift materials.Kids are not big on getting exorbitant clothing; they just want to dress up and play.You can also monitor discounts and go for clearance sales for the best prices.Despite the game being for them, be sure to get involved in it too.Playing with them can help you bond better since they can see and share their happy moments with you.Also, you will use the activity to see what they think about your mannerisms and gain more self-awareness.

Watch Television

Helping your child's mental well-being stay healthy after a harrowing experience can be done if you distract your child with television.You can entertain your child with movies and cartoons on the screen.The vibrant colors, moving images, and clear sounds are intriguing to kids.Asides from the entertainment, your child can also benefit from the educational content on the screen.Various channels teach different subjects, from history to geography to science to art.Whatever inclination your child has concerning education, television can help them access it.TV also serves as a mode of exposure to various ethnic groups, cultures, and perspectives.Therefore, watching TV can show your child more about the world and learn how people across the globe interact differently.You may also expose your child to sports on the TV.By watching soccer, American football, basketball, or cricket, they may pick an interest in the sports and begin to chase a goal.

Go Outside

Instead of letting them toss and turn over an issue, you can distract your child by taking them outside to enjoy nature.You can start the journey into the woods close to you by giving your child the map.Let them enjoy the feeling of leading everyone.If the area is a place well-known to your child and other family members, you can turn the outing into a scavenger hunt.In the hunt, you can have them look for specific items, promising prizes, and rewards in return.Such an intriguing activity will take their mind off the stressful issue.You can also give your child a magnifying glass to observe tiny organisms or plants as you go hiking or walking.The glass will bring things into perspective for her and get them excited about seeing the bodies and lives of little organisms.After the trip to the outside world, you can encourage them to start a nature journal.By embarking on this project, they will have something exciting to keep them grounded at all times, allowing for excellent mental well-being.

Tell Them Stories

Stories from parents to children have remained staple methods of sharing knowledge across time.You can use stories to distract your child and get them to ignore whatever emotionally painful encounter they have.You can share stories from your past to show them how your childhood was.They will find it amazing that you are sharing how you were as a kid.It will also make them find you more relatable since they can connect with your stories.Folktales from around the world are also great stories to tell your kid.By telling them the heroes' morals, values, and actions, they will draw strength to continue on the moral path.If your kid has a strong passion for specific subjects, you can tell them stories about them.The stories will further fuel their passion and inspire them to achieve great deeds.

Conclusion

As a loving parent, protecting and shaping your child's mental well-being will be one of your primary duties.In an uncomfortable situation, you will want to protect their well-being.You can achieve this when you distract your child by baking together, playing dress-up, watching TV, going outside, and telling them stories.

Resources

https://www.tasteofhome.com/article/baking-with-kids/

https://www.healthline.com/health/childrens-health/playing-dress-up#tips

https://www.momjunction.com/articles/good-bad-effects-television-children_0074078/

https://everymum.ie/kids/toddlers-1-3-yrs/30-ways-to-distract-a-toddler

https://thimbleandtwig.com/how-to-make-walking-outdoors-fun-for-kids-2/