18/09/2020
Often times behaviours arise when children aren’t able to express themselves, and young children may not have the vocabulary to express their emotions ! 🙈
step one in social emotional learning is learning how to identify emotions!
If your child isn’t able to label their emotions verbally just yet, it’s up to you (caregiver, therapist, teacher) to help them gain the insight and vocabulary to do so !
😁 model emotions on your face as you teach them the name (Ex look I’m smiling! That means I’m happy!) - if your child can copy you that’s a great addition to this task!
😁 create visual cards for your child to identify with - if they can’t say they’re happy/sad/frustrated etc, give them a way to point at a card that shows that emotion (this still requires you to teach them which emotion matches which card!)
😁 incorporate emotional narration and labelling in play - if you’re playing with your child or supervising them, perhaps chime in with some emotional vocabulary! (Ex: oh no Spider-Man fell down! Maybe he’s sad because he got hurt!)
😁Associate simple colours with emotions - again if some of the emotional language is too hard to use, kids can identify with colours! (Zones of Regulation anyone?) you don’t have to follow the Zones is regulation, but if your child learns that feeling frustrated is red, they can point to or say red when you ask them how they’re feeling
😁 label the emotions in books and tv shows - use that screen time and quality time during reading to teach emotions! (Ex: oh no poor Clifford is crying he must be sad!) remember that emotions are pretty abstract, so pointing out body language or physical reactions to emotions such as tears, red faces etc
😁 label your own emotions when you’re feeling them - children can understand better if they see it on someone else ! (Ex: mommy’s tummy hurts a little, she’s feeling a little worried OR mommy is crying, she’s a little bit sad right now)
It may seem silly to narrate life or to teach your small child vocabulary when they don’t have much of it on their own, but you’re laying a foundation for future social interactions and problem solving and that can never happen too early 🌿💛
