Children are constantly faced with so many new, strange and exciting emotions. It can be difficult for them to understand what these new feelings mean, let alone how to manage them. This is why it’s so important for children to learn how to identify and label their emotions early on. In order to build our children’s emotional intelligence and gift them strategies for natural self regulation, parents and educators must have the tools and approach to connect with them personally.
Introduce Your Child To Different Emotions
For a child to understand his emotions, he needs to know what they are and how they are different from one another. The earlier you introduce your child to emotions, the easier it will be for him to identify his own feelings and learn to regulate them. When you introduce your child to emotions, be sure to do so carefully. Emotions can be a sensitive topic, so make sure you keep your tone of voice and body language neutral. 1. Start by noticing emotions in pictures of others. This Guide To Reading Emotions is a great resource to show what the emotion is, and how to describe facial features of the emotion. 2. Move to recognizing emotions in others (watching on a tv show, observing friends or family members). 3. For children to recognize their own emotions, they need to be developing the Theory of Mind perspective where they recognize that how they feel (and how they think they feel) may be different than what others see when looking at the child. This is where taking pictures (similar to the Guide mentioned above) of the child, and having them learn what their emotions look like is helpful. It pairs the emotion with the feeling (experience) of the emotion. Ask your child what emotions he is feeling. Talk through the situation. What happened, how it felt, etc. This will allow you to clarify what he’s experiencing and help him better identify his own emotions. Want a handy resource to learn this step by step? For a description, as well as laminated cards to use in the moment, check out this Cards and Guidebook resource!
Help your child understand his own emotions
Asking your child what he is feeling can be very helpful in determining his emotions, but it won’t tell him why he’s feeling the way he is. You can help your child understand his own emotions by explaining why he’s feeling the way he does. You can do this by using a conversation format, where you and your child talk through his emotions and how they relate to his everyday experiences. This will help your child to better understand and label his emotions, as well as building a relationship where he can discuss his feelings with you.
Teach self-regulation strategies
Kids will naturally be anxious about trying new skills and new experiences. This is why self-regulation strategies are so important. Self-regulation means being able to regulate your own emotions and behavior when you are experiencing an anxious feeling. Self-regulation strategies can be used to calm yourself down and help you return to a calm and relaxed state. Self-regulation strategies include: Taking deep breaths, using affirmations to guide our thinking Our Many Emotions, using a designated calm space with visuals and sensory supports.
Help your child understand how emotions affect behavior
Self-regulation is important when it comes to emotions, but it also applies to how your child handles his behavior. Teaching your child how emotions affect behavior is important because it helps him to better understand his own behavior. You can start to help your child understand this by talking to him about how he feels while he’s in a certain mood. This can help your child to better identify his feelings and why he’s behaving the way he is. This can also help your child to better regulate his feelings, as he understands that certain actions are caused by his feelings.
Conclusion
Children with emotional intelligence are stronger communicators, more connected to those in their environments and have less stress and anxiety. Build our children’s emotional intelligence and use these strategies and resources to support natural self-regulation. When parents and educators have the tools to share with children, everyone thrives. For more information, tips and resources, visit us at stacytriplat.com and stacytriplat.teachable.com