Teaching your child to identify and express their feelings at a young age is important. Young children experience many of the same emotions that adults do, however they often don’t have the words or tools to express/cope with what they are feeling. This often leads the child to act out their feelings in inappropriate ways. Children who understand their emotions are less likely to act out. A child who can express, “I’m mad at you” is less likely to hit. A child who can express, “I’m feeling worried,” is better able to find solutions to help them feel less worried and face their fears. It may also help parents understand the occasional unexplained stomach ache or headache that often come with feeling anxious. Remember, you are the most important teacher in your child’s life. Below is a video on identifying emotions, along with some tips to help your children identify their own emotions: Here is a short video on helping your children identify emotions:
https://www.loom.com/share/38cbc8915b7a4f0d894dc6ffec33aba9 Ways to Help Your Child Identify Emotions: ● Teach your child simple feeling words and create opportunities to talk about feelings ● Discuss how different characters in books or movies or real people may be feeling and why ● Use simple feeling charts (example in post below) and ask your child each day, “How are you feeling today?” You can laminate a chart and have your child use a magnet on the fridge, or a dry erase marker to show how they are feeling. ● Validate the emotion and use the “and” Example: “I know this is hard and I am here for you.” or “I know you are sad, and you are going to be okay” (validating a child’s emotions allows them to feel that emotion and understand it) ● Model expressing your feelings in a healthy manner. “I feel mad that I burnt dinner today,” then take some deep breaths or model other healthy coping tools Teaching kids coping tools to use when they are feeling angry, worried, sad, or upset in any way can help with emotional regulation. There are many coping tools examples in the mindfulness section of this blog.
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