News and Media

Homepage News and Media Insights | Six Priorities for Children’s Wellbeing

Insights | Six Priorities for Children’s Wellbeing

19 Dec 2018

Wellbeing is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as ‘the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy’. However, it is important to realise that wellbeing is a much broader concept than moment-to-moment happiness. While it does include happiness, it also includes other things, such as how satisfied people are with their life as a whole; their sense of purpose, and how in control they feel.https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/blog/what-wellbeing-how-can-we-measure-it-and-how-can-we-support-people-improve-it

The importance of wellbeing has been widely acknowledged over the past twenty years by psychologists and is increasingly referred to in our daily lives. We are ever more aware of how we feel, how the world around us and our interactions impact upon us. More and more, we spend time and money on improving and investing in our wellbeing. We use the umbrella term to capture many aspects of our emotional selves. However, the concept itself is surprisingly complex. In a recent study published from the University of Nottingham (Longo, Y., Coyne, I., & Joseph, S. (2017). The Scales of general well-being. Personality and Individual Differences, 109, 148-159.), the similarities and differences in the six most widely used theoretical perspectives on well-being were examined, identifying fourteen distinct and recurring constructs that are used to describe wellbeing:

Happiness: feeling happy and cheerful
Vitality: feeling energetic/full of energy
Calmness: feeling calm/relaxed
Optimism: being optimistic and hopeful
Involvement: feeling completely involved and engaged in what you do
Awareness: being in touch with how you feel
Acceptance: accepting yourself the way you are
Self-worth: liking yourself
Competence: feeling highly effective at what you do
Development: feeling you are improving, developing, advancing
Purpose: having a purpose and a mission in life
Significance: feeling that what you do is worthwhile
Congruence: feeling that what you do is consistent with how you see yourself
Connection: feeling close and connected to the people around you

Adapted from: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/what-doesnt-kill-us/201708/what-exactly-is-well-being. How do we take such a complex, multifaceted concept and make it work in early years? With so many theories abound, how do we identify strategies for the promotion of wellbeing in early years? Research undertaken by the Children’s Society identified six priorities for children’s wellbeing. The six priorities are not mutually exclusive, and there is significant overlap between what affects the wellbeing of both children and adults. However, some aspects, such as having positive, loving relationships with family and having the right conditions to learn and develop, matter even more for children than for adults. https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk

The conditions to learn and develop: Children need to be given the conditions to learn and develop. This includes cognitive and emotional development, fostered through access to play in the early years and high-quality education in school, and physical development, for example through a nutritious diet. School is a key area of children’s lives where experiences vary greatly, and negative experiences have a significant impact on wellbeing. A positive view of themselves and an identity that is respected: Children need to see themselves in a positive light, and deserve to feel, and be, respected by all adults and other children. Evidence shows that how children feel about their appearance, whether they are being bullied, and whether they believe that their voice is being heard and opinions respected, are key drivers of their wellbeing. Have enough of what matters: Children’s wellbeing is affected by ‘having enough’ and ‘fitting in’ rather than being rich or accumulating material goods purely for its own sake. Have positive relationships with family and friends: Children want and need positive, loving relationships with the people closest to them. Overall, the strongest driver of low subjective wellbeing is where children experience weak and uncaring relationships with their family or carer. The structure of the family itself has only a small effect on a child’s wellbeing. Children also need positive, stable, relationships with their friends, with social isolation a strong driver of low levels of wellbeing. A safe and suitable home environment and local area: Children need safe and suitable environments at home and in their local area. Where children are unhappy in these environments, often through feeling unsafe, feeling that they have a lack of privacy, or feeling that their home or local area has inadequate facilities, this has a strong association with lower levels of wellbeing. Opportunity to take part in positive activities to thrive: A healthy balance of time use is as important for children as it is for adults. The need for a balance that suits the individual needs of children means that they should be actively involved in decisions about how they spend their time. Adapted from The Good Childhood Report, Promoting Positive Wellbeing for Children: https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/tcs/promoting_positive_well-being_for_children_final.pdf

Hiba Academy Shanghai

News and Media

Latest News

Photo Gallery

Video Gallery

Insights | Six Priorities for Children’s Wellbeing

Christmas Greetings

The Week Ahead 20181214