How to Help Your Child Understand and Label Emotions

Brooke Brogle, Alyson Jiron & Jill Giacomini

 

 

You can help your child expand her emotional vocabulary by teaching her words for different feelings. Once she knows and understands these words you can help her to label her own feelings and the feelings of others.

For example, do you remember a time when your child had a meltdown at the grocery store or other public place? Perhaps you tried soothing your child by telling her to “calm down” and felt confused and unsure of what to do next when she continued the tantrum.

 

Next time you can better help your child understand and deal with the emotions she is feeling by saying, “You look sad and disappointed. Sometimes I feel that way too. I wonder what we can do to feel better?”

 

Teaching your child about her emotions can be a fun and rewarding experience and prevent challenging behavior from occurring in the first place.

 

Try This at Home

„ Simply state how your child is feeling. “You look really excited! I see your eyes are big and your mouth is open.”

„ State how others are feeling, “Wow, that little boy is really mad. I see he is crying and making fists with his hands. I wonder why?”

„ State how you are feeling. “I am really frustrated that the lawn mower is broken. I think I’m going to take a break and come up with some solutions to this problem.”

„ Use books as teaching tools. There is a huge selection of children’s books that focus on emotional literacy.

 

Visit http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/resources/strategies.html#list where you will find a book list, book activities and other resources for teaching emotional literacy.

 

Practice at School

Talk with your child’s teachers to see how they are teaching your child about emotions at school. Many emotions are seen and experienced at school. With adult help, children are taught how emotions look and feel on their bodies. Through books and real experiences, teachers show that a child looks sad because he is crying or mad because her fists are tight. As children begin to recognize what emotions look like, they can begin to manage their own emotions and show empathy toward others.

 

The Bottom Line: Children with a strong emotional vocabulary:

„ Tolerate frustration better

„ Get into fewer fights

„ Engage in less destructive behavior

„ Are healthier

„ Are less lonely

„ Are less impulsive

„ Are more focused

„ Have greater academic achievement