Your child’s mental health is just as important as their physical well-being.

 “Mental health” refers to how we feel about ourselves and others as well as how we deal with life. You – and all your child’s caregivers – have an important role to play in promoting good mental health. You help foster mental health by providing:

• A safe space to live and play
• Healthy types and amounts of food
• Love, care, and comfort
• Time for active play and engagement with other children
• Time to rest and relax
• Guidance and discipline that is firm but not harsh

These tips and more are available at www.illinoisearlylearning.org/tipsheets/mental-essential.

For more information visit the sites below:

• Illinois’s Approach to Building and Sustaining Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation
• Illinois Action Plan to Integrate Early Childhood Mental Health into Child- and Family-Serving Systems, Prenatal through Age Five