Children of every age experience complex emotions, often communicating their needs to their caregivers. Children of all ages need to feel supported, loved, valued, accepted, and safe. Meeting children's emotional needs increase their resilience and helps them in building a strong foundation for future success in school, work, relationships, and throughout their life. When these needs go unmet, children can experience health complications, problems regulating and coping with emotions, and have general difficulty navigating relationships and day-to-day activities. A few challenges children can experience that limit their emotional, physical, social, and psychological health are Lack of Secure Attachment, Experiencing Grief and Loss, and Impacted by Trauma.

Attachment

The attachment bond between a child and their caregivers has an important impact on their relationships throughout life. Building secure attachment doesn't mean that caregivers have to be perfect, but that they must be responsive to the needs of their children. By understanding the attachment process, caregivers can ensure that their children form a secure attachment and have a healthy foundation for future relationships.

Grief and Loss

Grief is a natural response to the loss of a relationship, a pet, or a loved one. Grief can also surface during times such as a divorce, loss of employment, or a child's removal from the home. Coping with grief can be complicated, and there is no right or wrong way to move through grief. Many believe grief can is resolved by ignoring it or just being strong enough to overcome it. Grief is not something we overcome; it something we increase our skills to cope with overtime.

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Trauma 

Children who experience trauma often demonstrate a range of physical, intellectual, and behavioral conditions that can compromise their success in school, at home, and in other social settings. To better meet the needs of children who have experienced trauma, professionals and caregivers are encouraged to learn more about and alter their response to traumatized children. Many schools and systems that serve youth are also working to become "trauma-informed." This shift in how we address the needs of traumatized children has been informed by data estimating that 10-20 % of children experience post-traumatic like symptoms following a single traumatic event and if left untreated, can result in health-related problems well into adulthood.

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