Podcast Tackles How to Help Children Manage Their Big Emotions
One of the biggest challenges - and most important skills to learn - for children is managing big emotions. If such feelings go unchecked, they can lead to struggles beyond the toddler years and caregivers being overwhelmed.
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A recent Thriving Kids podcast covered the topic of how to help children manage their emotions. Dave Anderson, senior psychologist and vice president of public engagement and education for the Child Mind Institute, joined Marc Brackett, PhD, founding director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and author of “Dealing with Feeling,” to discuss the topic.
The discussion covers why many children struggle to manage big feelings, how caregivers can shift from knowing to becoming “curious scientists,” and why focusing on positive emotions is just as important as managing difficult ones.
The Child Mind Institute’s Family Resource Center provided some strategies touted by experts on how to help children build emotional self-regulation skills. These include:
Start with labeling feelings - it’s easier for children to manage emotions when they can name them, such as “frustrated,” “sad,” “nervous,” or “excited.
Model calm - children often mimic adults’ behavior; when a caregiver takes a breath and speaks gently in response to a challenging situation, it teaches them what self-regulation looks like
Practice in slow-stakes moments - emotional self-regulation skills are built through repetition; try dry runs, such as practicing new skills during a quick errand if a child often has meltdowns as the store
Coach children through tough situations - when it comes to tasks or situations that children find overwhelming, break them down into small steps, which gives them the framework to tackle challenging scenarios on their own
Revisit challenges together - if a child has an outburst, return to it gently; children can learn to choose better ways to respond to a situation, but they need straightforward feedback. Talk about what went wrong and why - and how they can do better next time.
Listen to the entire Thriving Kids podcast on YouTube.