Has your child ever indulged in a full-blown tantrum in the middle of a crowded shopping center? Or perhaps they had broken into tears over a seemingly small issue? If these incidents sound similar, this blog post will give you an insight into the causative factor and effective ways to deal with it.
We all know how emotions play a major role in shaping our thoughts, behaviors, and relationships, eventually influencing our lives. When left uncontrolled or neglected, they can negatively affect individuals’ behavior/actions, and kids are no exception to it.
Having said that, it has been seen that kids capable of effectively managing their emotions have better mental health, overall well-being, and social skills than kids who don’t. This is why we at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, a renowned CBSE school in Gurgaon, place special emphasis on teaching kids about their emotions. But since kids spend a considerable time at home, it becomes essential for parents to pour efforts in this direction as well. Teaching your kids how to better understand and deal with their emotions is crucial to transforming them into mature and emotionally aware individuals. It can help them succeed in both personal and professional life.
If you’re ready to teach kids how to deal with their emotions, the following techniques can significantly ease the process:
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Encourage Emotional Expression
Kids will only freely express their emotions when they feel safe. If you want them to identify, understand, and manage their feelings, you have to give them a safe space/environment where they can foster a healthy relationship with their emotions. Establishing a judgment-free and supportive home environment is the easiest way to achieve it. You can also start validating their emotions/feelings by actively listening and acknowledging their experiences. Once trust is built between you two, you will start seeing visible improvements.
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Model Healthy Emotional Regulation
We at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok firmly believe that children learn by observing their caregiver’s actions. If you are the primary caregiver, be mindful of your actions. Kids silently notice how their parents express and regulate their emotions and replicate the same. For example, when they observe you managing stress in healthy ways, they learn the same. If you want your little ones to better understand and deal with their emotions, start practicing activities they should be doing.
For example, start meditating, practice self-care, write daily journals, use positive coping techniques, etc. When you practice these consistently, your children will eventually pick the same habits. It will teach them to efficiently deal with their emotions without requiring any other individual’s intervention.
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Foster Emotional Intelligence Through Art
Engaging in art activities is one of the most overlooked and undervalued methods of fostering emotional intelligence. Art is an excellent outlet for emotional expression and can help kids understand their emotions deeply. You can encourage children to participate in any art activity, like drawing, writing, etc. Ask your children what art activities they are most interested in, and help them pursue them. Art has been used to externalize emotions for decades and is still helpful as before.
Kids find it easier to visually represent their inner world through writing, drawing, and other artistic activities. Once they have finished these activities, ask them to reflect on their work and discuss the emotions it evokes. Integrating art into emotional exploration can help children develop a deeper, much better understanding of their feelings and provide valuable insights into their emotional landscape. If your kids don’t give enough time to art activities, start encouraging them to practice it from today.
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Cultivate Mindfulness & Self-Reflection
Mindfulness and self-reflection are potent tools for emotional regulation. If you are looking for ways to acquaint your kids with these tools, start by teaching them mindfulness exercises, like deep breathing and guided meditations. Besides mindfulness, teach your kids how to self-reflect to understand any emotion. For example, whenever your kid gets angry or sad, ask them what triggered that emotion and how they tackled the resulting behavior.
The more questions you ask, the more they’ll get into self-reflection mode. It will foster healthy self-awareness, assisting them in better understanding their emotions. Over a period, they can start identifying patterns and triggers that result in disruptive behaviors, and they can better manage their emotions.
Conclusion
Dealing with emotions is a complex and challenging terrain that even adults are trying to navigate. So don’t get upset if your kid doesn’t understand their emotions initially. A piece of advice we at Delhi Public School Sushant Lok, a well-known best CBSE school in Gurgaon, would like to give to all the parents reading this blog post here is that whenever you introduce your little ones to the emotional regulation techniques discussed in this write-up, see to it that you remain patient during this journey and do not expect overnight results. We have seen incredible changes in students who used all the above-mentioned methods, so ensure you try them too. The results might not be instantaneous, but they will certainly become visible over a period.