Parent Workshop – Understanding a child’s emotions


emotionaldevelopment

Right from the time a child is born, parents eagerly wait for the child to reach developmental milestones. Parents spend a lot of time teaching kids how to talk, walk, read, write, respect values and have good manners as they grow. But how do children learn about emotions?

Emotions and Feelings are a natural part of who we are. Everything we do and everything we learn is shaped in some way by the way we feel.

As a lot of parents we interacted with were unaware that managing emotions and controlling emotions can be taught to children, we organized a workshop.

You started a new job and your boss tells his colleague in front of you – “He is slow but he is improving.”  How do you feel?

  1. Insulted
  2. Sad
  3. Angry
  4. A mix of everything listed above

How do kids feel when you talk about them when they are present to the teacher or your relatives?

We often tend to forget that the little ones have a lot of big emotions – Anger, Fear, Frustration, Embarrassment, Anxiety and every emotion that we feel as adults.  They don’t have the words to talk about how they are feeling. Instead, they act out these emotions in very physical and inappropriate ways.

Steps of emotional coaching

  • Allow, accept, acknowledge and understand what your child feels

Your child is scared of getting a glass of water from the kitchen because it is dark and starts crying. Don’t get him to stop crying or don’t criticize the fear he is experiencing instead acknowledge it. “You seem very worried about going into a d ark room.”

  • Listen with empathy and validate what your child is experiencing.

 “When I was a child, I used to be very scared to go into a room that was dark and would cry a lot too. “

  • Help your child label her/his  emotions.

“You are afraid because your eyes are unable to clearly see in the dark. You are experiencing FEAR of the dark “

  • Teach problem solving

“As you grow older you will get rid of these fears. Why dont I stand here and talk to you  “

Teaching kids to express their feelings is insufficient, they also need to know how to find constructive solutions to manage their big feelings.

CalmerWays