Spending quality family time together is crucial for the development of children, and holidays like Family Day put an emphasis on this fact.
“It gives families time to strengthen their bonds to each other,” said mental health navigator for the Bonnyville Child and Adolescent Mental Health Clinic Alena Thompson. “Time for parents to model good behaviour to continue to grow, it makes the kids feel important and loved to know that this day is for them.”
That’s why taking advantage of holidays meant to be spent with family are crucial for children’s development.
“One of the basic needs for proper growth and development is security. That, obviously, comes from a secure home and family. Spending time as a family just highlights its importance, and gives kids a lot of that great security so that other stages of development, and their other needs can be met,” detailed Thompson.
Early childhood specialist for the Bonnyville Parent Child Centre, Leanne Doonanco, noted that babies are born wanting relationships.
“They learn lots of things from watching their parents, mostly that’s how kids learn is from watching people and what they’re doing. They learn how to do a lot of things when they’re watching their parents because they mimic a lot of things,” she emphasized.
An important factor for children is feeling secure and loved. If it’s lacking in these areas, it can lead to a number of mental health issues.
“They can feel more anxiety, uncertainty, more fears, and that just goes beyond home. It goes into school, other relationships, and it follows them, unfortunately, along in different aspects of their life,” expressed Thompson.
Spending time together allows conversations to happen between a parent and a child, which can open the lines of communication.
Thompson explained, “It’s a great time to learn about each other, so the parents can give more support when the kid is showing that they maybe have some fear or worries at school or elsewhere.”
Thompson and Doonanco stressed the importance of quality time over quantity.
Doonanco said spending time together is one thing, but quality time is another.
“(It’s) really listening to their kids when they’re speaking and want to be heard. Just spending time with them makes them feel wanted and loved, and gives them a sense of security which will eventually roll into them feeling, as adults, secure. That’s important.”
Thompson added, “The biggest thing is everybody turn off their screens, put their phones away, and find something that everybody’s going to like. Not everyone’s going to like everything, but sometimes it’s good to push everybody in the family outside of their box and try something new. But, whatever you decide is important, as long as you’re focusing on each other.”
