10 tips that help you to support your highly sensitive child

Highly sensitive children experience reality more intensely. They are so open to stimulation, that the stimuli sometimes get the best of them. That’s when they get angry or sad, tend to withdraw or complain. This is how you accompany a highly sensitive child in life.

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1.  Make sure home is a harmonious and peaceful place.

2.  Be honest, don’t lie, and don’t hide your feelings from them.

3.  Treat your child as an equal. Be thoughtful about criticism: this has a heavy effect on them.

4.  Explain why you ask them to do something, don’t force anything if you don’t have to, ask for cooperation in a friendly manner.

5.  Make sure there’s time for them to process new impressions; time when nothing special is happening. It’s wise not to go away during every school holiday: schedule lots of days for pottering around.

6.  Try to be understanding when your child is complaining about uncomfortable clothes, loud noises, bright colors and food they can’t bear.

7.  Support your child in difficult social situations.

8.  Teach your child that it’s not necessary to look people in the eye if it feels too intense – they can also look at an ear, without seeming impolite.

9.  Teach your child a protective image that might help them, like an angel, a knight or a spirit animal, and tell them stories about it.

10.  Teach them visualisations to protect themselves in difficult surroundings. They might imagine there’s an egg of light around them, or a protective cloak, a magical waistband, a rose hedge or a glass wall.

Photo: Ratiu Bia