Secrets to Boosting Your Child’s Mental and Emotional Well-Being

In today’s fast-paced world filled with screen time, academic pressures, and constant noise, our children need more than just physical care—they need emotional and mental nourishment. As parents, caregivers, and educators, it’s our job to help children grow not just smarter, but happier, more resilient, and emotionally strong.

Here are the powerful, science-backed secrets to nurturing your child’s mental and emotional well-being from the inside out.

Create a Safe and Loving Environment

A child’s emotional health starts at home. More than toys and gadgets, children crave security and love. Besides, monitor your children's activities on screen, keeping them away from harmful content or games that are not aligned with our religious values.

What You Can Do:

Spend one-on-one time with your child daily—even if it’s just 10 minutes. You can utilize this time reading fun and interesting stories to them while teaching them about the Deen. Hakma's beautifully illustrated stories can be of great help in this case.
Offer unconditional love, even when correcting behavior.
Build routine and structure, which give children a sense of safety.

Encourage Open Communication

Teach your child that it’s okay to talk about feelings, whether it’s joy, anger, fear, or sadness.

How:

Ask open-ended questions like, “How did that make you feel?”
Use feelings charts or emotion cards to help younger kids express themselves.
Model emotional honesty: “I felt a little stressed today, but I took a deep breath.”

💡 Secret Tip: Children are more likely to talk when doing side-by-side activities (like drawing or driving) instead of face-to-face conversations.

Teach Coping Skills and Emotional Regulation

Instead of shielding your child from every disappointment, help them manage tough emotions in healthy ways.

Techniques:

Deep breathing (“Smell the flower, blow out the candle”).
Drawing or journaling emotions.
Create a “calm-down corner” with soothing toys or books.

Encourage Growth, Not Perfection

Kids feel pressure to be perfect—whether at school, sports, or social media. Shift the focus from “Be the best” to “Do your best.”

Try this:

Praise effort, not just outcome: “I’m proud of how you stood second on Hakma's Leaderboard!”
Share your own failures and what you learned from them.
Let them fail safely. Small stumbles build big resilience.

Foster Positive Relationships

Strong, loving relationships—with parents, friends, and other adults—act like emotional armor for children.

Strengthen Connections:

Encourage playdates and teamwork. You can also play Quiz on Hakma Challenge mode. This is encourage them to learn and explore.
Spend quality time together as a family—Hakma story times, Hakma audiobooks, or a simple walk.
Help them practice empathy: “How do you think your friend felt when that happened?”

Prioritize Sleep and Nutrition

Believe it or not, a cranky or anxious child may simply be hungry or tired. Mental well-being is tightly linked to body wellness.

Build healthy habits:

Ensure 9–11 hours of sleep per night (depending on age).
Offer balanced meals with whole foods and plenty of water.
Limit sugar and screen time before bed.

Teach Through Stories and Faith

Books, stories, and spiritual lessons can shape a child’s inner world. They teach values, self-worth, and coping.

Use:

Storybooks with emotional themes like Hakma, not only you can read the stories, you can also listen to Hakma audibles!!
Islamic stories about the Prophet’s (PBUH) kindness, patience, and empathy.
Daily dua and gratitude journaling to build emotional awareness.

Model Emotional Strength

Children don’t always listen to what we say—but they always watch what we do. Be the example.

Show them:

How to apologize when you’re wrong.
How to pause when you're upset.
That it’s okay to take a break, ask for help, or say “I don’t know.”

All these followed together may help your children to calm their minds and slowly adjust to the brand new world which is ahead of them. Remember, patience wins it all.

You can try the Hakma app for FREE, available for both Android and IOS!