Smiling Mind Generation
I’m a parent, carer, sibling, grandparent, or extended family member. How can I get involved?
Establishing new habits and fostering positive mental health routines with your family is a great way to help children learn essential mental fitness skills. Practising these skills not only benefits children, it supports parents’ and caregivers’ mental health and wellbeing, benefiting the family as a whole.
Smiling Mind has developed a range of tools and resources to support families to build their mental fitness together. Our aim is to provide parents and carers with effective strategies, tools and ways to communicate, to help children develop crucial social emotional skills.
We’ll regularly add resources to this page, so bookmark it and check back each month.
These resources support you to learn about mental fitness and health and explore the evidence and expertise underpinning our tools and programs. You’ll find information about how you can support yourself and the children in your life to build the skills to thrive.
These resources will guide you to try out the key skills that support your own and the children in your lives’ mental fitness and mental health. You’ll find practical activities, guided meditations, programs, and tools to use yourself and to share with the children in your life.
These resources allow you to share information with other people who you think will benefit from accessing the resources and tools aligned to the Smiling Mind Generation. You’ll find resources to share with others who are also supporting children.
Start exploring resources
Supporting children’s mental fitness
Supporting children who are happy and healthy means prioritising mental health as being of equal importance to physical health. Building foundational mental fitness skills such as mindfulness can help build children’s confidence and resilience. Explore the evidence behind mindfulness and learn how to practise.
Get started with mindfulness at home
Looking to get started with mindfulness, but not sure how? Try one of these kid-friendly activities to begin to introduce your family to meditation - anytime, anywhere. Mindfulness is an evidence-based way to improve attention and awareness as an essential part of a holistic approach to mental fitness.
Help kids develop healthy friendships
Building friendships and relationships can be one of the most challenging aspects of social and emotional development for kids. Watch this video for practical tips and strategies to support your child to understand why relationships are important, and what it takes to be a good friend as they grow
Why building resilience begins at home
When it comes to building children’s resilience, intervening early to proactively teach skills that build protective factors is essential. Research shows that a foundational baseline of mental fitness skills can equip children with lifelong tools that support them to cope with life’s challenges.
An animated introduction to mindfulness
Mindfulness is a skill that can help us navigate the ups and downs of life. It allows us to bring focus to the present moment and turn off autopilot. In this series of one-minute animated videos you'll learn all about the concept of mindfulness, explore its many benefits and discover how to practise it.
Bite-sized mental fitness animated episodes
How can you start teaching kids about emotional regulation, before they even know what emotions are? Parents can help to begin to build children’s mental fitness skills with Smiling Mind Creek - a series of bite-sized animations designed especially to help young kids aged 3-8 to understand and process emotions.
Support your family’s sleep routine
Sleep can be difficult to navigate as a family. We know many Australian adults and children are not getting the sleep they need. Our evidence-based sleep program for families has a variety of engaging activities, strategies, and resources to establish good sleep routines for your whole family.
Help children build confidence in primary school
From the ages of 6 to 10, children are developing their skills in new tasks and social connections. These are pivotal years in a child's life, as they're discovering the world around them and their place in it. Here's how you can support your child as they navigate Primary School.
Mental fitness activities to use at home
Looking for a way to begin building some mental fitness skills, but not sure where to start? This printable activity pack includes activities kids can do with you or on their own. Building mental fitness can help children respond to challenges, develop healthy friendships and make good decisions.
Practical tips for kids' mental wellbeing
Supporting children's wellbeing seems like it would be complex but, as Dr Preeya Alexander explains, sometimes the most effective strategies are the most simple. The best part is, these wellbeing strategies can benefit the whole family! Learn Preeya's top wellbeing tips in her new article.
How to be your child's friendship coach
Loneliness is on the rise among children, and social anxiety and peer relationship difficulties are increasing too. As parents and carers, we can give our kids a helping hand in making friends by coaching them in social and emotional skills at home. Check out these tips!
Help children practise gratitude
Gratitude is an important skill in supporting wellbeing. Whether it's the end of the year, school term or a difficult transition, gratitude can help kids cultivate flexible thinking skills and build resilience. Check out this article for tips from Smiling Mind's Psychologist on how to experience genuine gratitude
Parents' concerns for kids' mental health
A recent pulse survey by Smiling Mind has revealed that while 67% of parents are concerned about their child's mental health, only 1 in 2 parents feel confident supporting these needs. Dive into the data explore the factors diminishing confidence and learn how you can support your child's mental wellbeing.
Settling in at home after the school day
Have you noticed your child coming home with bundles of energy or big emotions at the end of a school day? This 'Shooting Star Breathing' meditation is a great way to support calm and relaxation for kids (and you!). Wrap up the school day and transition into a mindful night together.
Mental Fitness in Childhood: A GP's Take
It’s often children's physical health that brings parents to the GP. In this article, Dr Preeya Alexander shares her perspective on why mental health is just as important. Find out what Dr. Preeya prescribes when it comes to mental fitness, and share with a friend to help the next generation thrive.
Helping kids talk about emotions
Children can experience emotions in big ways. Many parents and carers struggle when it comes to educating kids about emotions, and it's important we help kids learn to understand and regulate emotions in healthy ways. Get the need-to-know info on how to help kids talk about emotions in this 5 minute video.
Practising perspective-taking with kids
Perspective-taking is a powerful social skill for building great relationships. It helps kids 'step into someone else's shoes', which enhances empathy and compassion! Support your child to connect with others in a healthy way by practising this five-minute meditation together.
How can we better support caregivers and the children in their care?
Each year Smiling Mind checks in on the wellbeing of Australians through our State of Mind survey. The 2024 report focuses on the mental health of Australian children aged 4-12 and their caregivers.
