Children's Relationships

 Key points:

  • Relationship building blocks for children

  • Ways kids need to see disagreement modeled by parents

  • Children’s brains become reactive, with bigger and bigger emotional moments the more we shame, threaten, and yell

There are so many resources out there discussing relationships and the importance of them in our lives. Before you even take your first breath, you are already searching for a sense of belonging, a relationship, someone or something that makes you feel at home. 

What influences the development of closeness in a relationship for humans?

Since relationships are vital for human growth and happiness, we must first take a step back and realize, how do we teach our children how to build strong relationships throughout their lifetime? We have curated 7 building blocks to strengthen your child's relationships.

  • Knowledge

  • Interdependence

  • Caring

  • Trust

  • Responsiveness

  • Mutuality

  • Commitment

None of these components are required for close relationships to exist, but to have our most satisfying and meaningful relationships with whoever it may be with- it will include all of them.


Do you feel like your child can or will be able to cross off all 7 of these components in their relationships? 


In order to make all of these building blocks beneficial throughout a child’s lifetime, as parents we need to prioritize being a good model for some unavoidable hiccups that can come in relationships.


This can look like: “Your mom and I are feeling super frustrated right now, but sometimes you have had this feeling before and we have been able to work it out. Mom and I will too.”


If you grew up in a home that was full of fighting, arguments, and unsettled feelings, you most likely are an adult that is not comfortable with disagreements. In order to not have this feeling of uncomfortableness to be received by our children, we as parents can show our kids how to respect ourselves and their relationship.


We are the model given to our children to teach them they express themselves in an honest and respectful way.


As our child grows, we know that children’s brains become reactive, with bigger and bigger emotional moments the more we shame, threaten, and yell. Setting up a good model is so so important!


Let’s create healthy and sustainable relationships for our children to see

Emma Craig, pre-OT studentComment