#SEL

A new wave of guidance helps Thai families nurture children’s emotional lives without chasing constant happiness or dismissing painful feelings. Experts advocate honest, safe spaces where kids can experience a full range of emotions and learn to work through them.

This shift comes as Thai families face academic pressure, social change, and rapid digital disruption. While harmony and emotional restraint are valued in Thai culture, researchers say acknowledging negative emotions is essential for healthy development and resilience.

A wave of new guidance is helping parents across the globe, including in Thailand, understand how best to support their children’s emotional lives—without falling into the pitfalls of toxic positivity or feeling pressured to fix or gloss over every distressing feeling. As recent reporting by Slate illuminates, experts are urging parents to create honest, safe spaces for children to feel and process a full range of emotions, rather than pushing relentless optimism that may leave kids feeling unheard or misunderstood (Slate).

A large UK study shows that children who struggle to regulate their emotions by age seven are far more likely to experience anxiety and depression as teenagers. Following nearly 19,000 children for over a decade, researchers link early emotional challenges to later mental health risks, underscoring the need for early support in emotional regulation. This finding resonates with Thai families and teachers as youth mental health becomes a growing public concern, with research pointing to similar trends in Thailand.

A new study published by the University of Edinburgh has found that children who have trouble managing their emotions as early as age seven are significantly more likely to suffer from anxiety and depression as teenagers, illuminating a crucial early link in mental health development. By following nearly 19,000 young people over more than a decade, this research highlights the urgent need for emotional regulation support in early childhood—a message with increasing significance for Thai families and educators as youth mental health becomes an ever-more pressing public health concern (Neuroscience News).

A recent feature highlights that confidence grows from small, consistent parenting habits rather than grand gestures. For Thai families, this approach offers practical, research-backed ways to nurture emotionally resilient children at home and beyond. The findings emphasize that confidence develops over time through everyday interactions, encouragement, and support, rather than being inherited or built overnight.

In Thailand, the concept of ความมั่นใจ (confidence) is often tied to school transitions and academic performance. The new perspective widens that view: confidence is not only about grades but about becoming independent, capable adults who can face challenges with composure. The discussion is timely for Thailand’s education system, where the balance between traditional methods and encouragement of individuality remains an ongoing conversation.

Recent insights from a Times of India feature reveal that building a child’s confidence hinges not on grand gestures, but on a constellation of subtle parenting habits practiced daily—a finding with wide-ranging implications for Thai families committed to nurturing emotionally resilient youngsters. This new research-backed approach emphasizes that confidence is not inherited nor built overnight, but rather emerges from the small, consistent ways parents interact, encourage, and support their children at home (Times of India, 2025).