Back to Basics
Empowering parents and carers to support their child’s emotional wellbeing within the home
Looking after your family's wellbeing is very important. Families all need some help from time to time due to life changes or events.
As a parent or carer, you can take small steps to help your child's wellbeing as well as your own. You can do this by starting with the basics.
Using the back to basics approach can empower you to take control of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing.
Consider one area at a time. Think about your home environment and what small changes you can make together as a family.
When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
Think of it as building the foundations of a house, making sure your family has all the basics in place such as:
- Healthy eating
- Sleep
- Exercise
- Good routines
- Looking after yourselves and your child's wellbeing
If foundations are not in place, there is a risk of cracks appearing.
Take Notice
Be aware of your thoughts and feelings as they can sometimes be difficult to manage. Take notice of changes in behaviour and appearances, both positive and negative, and talk them through.
Try to also pay more attention to the people around you.
- Take 5 minutes out if you are starting to feel overwhelmed in a situation
- Name your thoughts and feelings and help your children to do the same. These are natural and you can role model how these are managed positively
- Take notice of the routines and diet that may affect your child’s wellbeing such as sleep, activity level and mood. High sugar contents prior to bedtime can cause issues
Give
Give time to friends, family members or the community. Most importantly, give yourself time to ensure these basics are in place.
- Offer to help someone on a project
- Volunteer within the community
- Help out at school
- Spend time with friends or family who need some support or help
- Ensure we give ourselves time to support the 5 ways of wellbeing
Be Active
Are you struggling to get motivated? Exercise and physical activity releases happy chemicals from your brain to your body. This will also help us sleep better.
You don’t have to spend money, find something you and your family can enjoy together or as individuals.
- A walk is enough to make a difference, maybe take a scooter, play hide and seek, go to the park or go for a bike ride
- Try a new class or activity online or face to face, depending on your preference and availability
- Contact your local leisure centre or child's school and see what they have on offer
Keep Learning
Learn something new! Did you know that learning something new can help you feel happier and more focused? It can also raise confidence and self-esteem. This can help you connect with others too.
- Sign up for a class or hobby at your local library, leisure centre, school or college. You could also take a look online
- Learn about your families hobbies and interests
- Support your children with their learning and learn with them
- Learn to cook something new from scratch and involve the family
Connect
Connecting with others can give you the opportunity to share positive experiences and provide emotional support for you all. Building good relationships is positive for our wellbeing too.
- Cut down device time
- Switch off the TV, put down devices and play a game as a family
- Make time to sit down as a family
- Try eating a meal together with no distractions
- Invite friends or family over to connect with you
Further Support
If you need urgent support in a crisis, talk to a trusted adult or visit:
Resources
- Parents as partners presentation. This is a short macro enabled presentation with an audio track.
- Save the file to your phone/computer/other device
- Open the file
- Press the F5 button or the "Start from beginning" option at the top left of the top tool bar, to play the presentation with the audio track
- Back to Basics - A3 poster
- Back to Basics - Leaflet
- Back to Basics - YouTube videos
- Be Active Basic Fact Sheet
- Be Active Complex Fact Sheet
- Connect Basic Fact Sheet
- Connect Complex Fact Sheet
- Family Goal Setting cards for each Petal
- Give Basic Fact Sheet
- Give Complex Fact Sheet
- Keep Learning Basic Fact Sheet
- Keep Learning Complex Fact Sheet
- My Goals Cards for children
- Parents and Carers Basic Fact Sheet
- Parents and Carers Complex Fact Sheet
- Supporting your Child's Wellbeing (Assembly Pack)
- School Holiday Family plan
- Take Notice Basic Fact Sheet
- Take Notice Complex Fact Sheet
Goal setting cards
Goal setting cards help you and your family to set small, realistic goals to help you improve your wellbeing using the Back to Basics approach.
Hampshire County Council will have access to the data which will be shared anonymously to partner agencies to develop services.
Resources for professionals
The following resources are intended to be completed by professionals only.
Submitting the following forms helps us to measure the impact of the Back to Basics campaign.
Hampshire County Council will have access to the data which will be shared anonymously to partner agencies to develop services.
- Case studies
- Professional questionnaire
- Advertisement slide
- Professionals Training presentation
- School Holiday Family plan
- Be Active Basic Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Be Active Complex Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Connect Basic Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Connect Complex Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Give Basic Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Give Complex Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Keep Learning Basic Fact Sheet with Widget
- Keep Learning Complex Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Take Notice Basic Fact Sheet with Widgets
- Take Notice Complex Fact Sheet with Widgets
- (14-6) Parents and Carers Widget Simple
- Parents and Carers Complex Fact Sheet with Widget
- Reflective Assessment
- Poster
- Poster with widget
- Petal Statements Small - Tips
- Petal Statements Medium - Tips
- Petal Statements Large - Tips
- Family Goal setting cards for each Petal
- Partnership conversation
- My Goals for Children
- Flow Chart
- Social Media Image size 1080x1080
- Social Media Image size 1200x630
- Social Media Narrative
Having a bath or shower one hour before bed can release sleepy hormones.
Reducing device time at least one hour before bed can aid sleep too!
Partner Organisations:
