Learning about feelings and the way to express them is an important a half of a child’s development.
We’ve all heard parents say “use your words” to their children to encourage them to verbalize their feelings. However, that is a skill that must be learned.
As a parent, your job is to assist your child name the feelings they’re experiencing and teach them the proper way to express them.
By understanding the feelings that they’re having, they can then learn how to speak them with phrases rather than through meltdowns and mood tantrums.
Take a glance at these 15 tricks to assist you teach kids about emotions.
The Basics of Teaching Kids Emotions
- Start with the basic emotions – As early as age two, your child can perceive basic feelings such as happy, mad, sad, and scared. Use pictures from a book or flashcards to assist them affiliate a sense with a facial expression. When a child is older, you can transfer on to broader feelings such as nervous, shy, or frustrated.
- Build vocabulary – Practice saying phrases like “happy” or “sad” over and over with your child all through the day, including a facial features to go with it. Then encourage them to repeat after you. Repeating sure phrases or phrases can assist them learn to say them on their own.
- Use a mirror – It’s easy for a kid to see what your face looks like when you’re happy or angry. But what about theirs? A mirror can be a nice tool. Have them look in a mirror as they practice their facial expressions and say the phrase that goes with it. This See My Feelings Mirror is a nice option for youthful kids.
Make It Fun
- Use books – There is an endless list of books that assist children acknowledge and perceive their emotions. Check out your native library or on-line bookstore to assist you discover books that assist your child with feelings and behaviors. Take it one step additional by speaking with them about why the characters within the book are feeling a sure way. The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions is a nice one to begin with!
- Watch videos – We all know that kids like to watch videos. You can discover free movies on YouTube that assist your child learn all about feelings in a fun, engaging way, and the film Inside Out is a nice pick for your subsequent household film night!
- Sing a song – Find songs online, or make up your own, to show your child about the feelings we have and what they’re called.
- Learn through play – Use toys your child already has to assist them learn about their emotions. Using dolls, stuffed animals, or motion figures, act out conditions that focus on a particular emotion. Label that emotion, practice making the corresponding facial expressions, and talk about what their toy ought to do next.
- Make a face – Take turns with your child making facial expressions and having the opposite person guess what they’re feeling. Talk about why the opposite person might be feeling that way.
- Use your food – Use meals to create different facial expressions. Simple snacks such as cheerios or raisins can be utilized to make a face. Once they’re done, they can eat their creation!
Make The Connection
- Label your feelings and theirs – Throughout your day, you can label the feelings that you and your child are experiencing within the moment. For example, you can say, “I am so happy that you’re home” or “You are feeling unhappy that we have to leave the park”. This will additional assist your child to construct their feelings vocabulary.
- Model good behavior – Kids learn about feelings by watching what we do. By expressing our feelings in a positive way, we can assist them do the same. Know that when we express our feelings in a negative way, such as yelling or throwing things, the result will likely be your child mimicking these behaviors.
- Help them perceive others – Learning about feelings goes past what your child is feeling. It’s additionally about having the ability to perceive the feelings of these round them. Helping them to acknowledge feelings in others and the way their actions make others really feel is important. Saying one thing like, “When you took away your sister’s toy it made her really feel sad” will assist your child be conscious of their actions and the way they have an effect on the feelings of others. You can assist your child learn empathy by asking them how they would really feel if that occurred to them.
- End your day with feelings – At the finish of your day, encourage your child to share how they felt all through the day and what situation made them really feel that way. For example, “Today I felt happy when I was the primary one to ride on the swings.”
Recognize Their Behavior
- Reward their good choices – When your child chooses to express their feelings with words, a reward can be an efficient way to maintain the positive behavior going. Toddlers and youthful children love sticker charts. School-age children love one thing extra tangible, so that you can mix the sticker chart with a reward that they earn after accumulating a sure variety of stickers.
- Praise and encourage your child – Even a small quantity of reward goes a lengthy way to encourage your child to express their feelings in a positive way. Learning self-control isn’t easy. Recognize when they inform you or another person how they’re feeling. For example, “I heard that you told your brother that he made you really feel angry when he took the toy away from you. It makes me so happy that you used your words.”
Taking the time to learn how to show kids about feelings will assist them not solely gain emotional intelligence, however psychological strength as well. Understanding feelings will profit them from childhood, through their teenage years, and all of the way into adulthood.