Health and well-being look different for every child, and sometimes life presents challenges that feel deeply unfair. While it’s natural to struggle with these realities, focusing on what can be controlled, and finding gratitude in the small victories, can help shift the mindset from frustration to resilience.
These are the lessons worth teaching our little loved ones if they, heartbreakingly, have to go through difficult health experiences. Almost all children experience illness and injury during their younger years, but the loving warmth, care, attention and checkups we provide can help make that process more meaningful.
Many wonderful parents help their little ones deal with conditions such as asthma, diabetes, mental struggles and more, and all should be commended. It’s not easy. However, helping a child adapt to new health realities isn’t exactly an easy or seamless process to begin with, because you may be confused as where to begin.
In this post, we hope to help you make that process feel manageable:
Help Them Adapt To Health Devices & Assistants
At first, anything new and medical-looking can seem a bit intimidating, especially if it’s something they’ll be wearing every day. That might be a brace, an insulin pump you have to bring out at certain points or when measuring blood sugar, or hearing aids.
Thankfully, modern tools are nothing like the clunky items you might imagine from years ago or have seen others use in your childhood. For example, Bluetooth hearing aids can sync with phones, tablets, and classroom tech, which means they’re a very helpful link to the things they already use and enjoy.
As such, the more something feels like an upgrade instead of a restriction, the quicker your child will adapt to it.
Make Sure Their Community Access & Educational Resources Are Properly Formatted
A lot of schools are well-equipped these days, but sometimes you have to be the one who nudges them into action, such as by arranging extra hearing support during lessons, asking for visual backups, or checking that any group activity is inclusive. You’re well within your rights to get into the habit of asking for accessibility measures, or if your child has unique needs, to find schools that can. Sometimes it just takes one chat with a teacher or admin to unlock resources you didn’t know were available.
Help Them To Be Kids, However They Can
This matters more than anything. Let them play, let them run around if they can, and let them feel a bit wild sometimes, even if under your supervision and in the right setting. It can feel very tempting to wrap them in cotton wool, and in some cases this may be explicitly recommended. But keep in mind that kids adjust, especially when they don’t feel like they’ve been singled out. The usual advice is, as much as you can, to give them the space to grow alongside their condition, not underneath it.
With this advice, we hope you can more easily help your loved one adapt to the health realities of a health condition, even if it’s not easy to do so.
💌 Download Your Free Caregiver Checklist!
As you support your child through their health journey, it’s important to remember that your well-being matters too. Balancing caregiving with the rest of your responsibilities can be overwhelming, especially when you’re pouring so much energy into helping your little one thrive. If you’re looking for practical ways to care for your family without burning out, be sure to read our post Caring for Loved Ones Without Losing Yourself: A Family Caregiver’s Guide. It includes a free downloadable caregiver’s checklist to help you stay organized, reduce stress, and make space for your own health and happiness along the way.
Daily Deals from a Nerd Mom 
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