How to Teach Kids About Feelings

Children are not born knowing what feelings are. Nor do they have a natural understanding of how to handle the emotions they experience. Just as you must teach your child how to eat with a spoon and how to use the potty, you must provide your child with some guidance on how to understand and deal with feelings. Ensure that your child is equipped to deal with the emotions that course through his body by explicitly teaching him what emotions are and how to handle both the positive and negative ones he may encounter.

Things You'll Need

  • Pencil
  • Paper
  • Pictures illustrating emotions

Instructions

    • 1

      Introduce lessons at a young age. Don̵7;t make the mistake of assuming that young kids aren̵7;t yet ready to learn about emotions. Instead, to reap the maximum benefits from your lessons, begin teaching your child about emotions as soon as he develops the capacity for basic speech,

    • 2

      Study emotion-related vocabulary with your child. It is easier for children to learn words for tangible objects than it is for them to discover how to verbally describe their feelings. Provide your child with help in describing what he is feeling by presenting him with a list of emotion-themed words. Include "happy" and "sad" along with less familiar words, such as "frustrated" and "embarrassed." Present each word to your child, and describe, in kid-friendly terms, what each word means, allowing him to effectively incorporate the words into his lexicon.

    • 3

      Show your child pictures that represent emotions. Because emotions can seem very abstract to young learners, you must aid them in developing an understanding of what each feeling actually is by showing them pictures that represent each emotion. When your child is very young, start with simple smiley- and frowny-face drawings. As he gets older, incorporate actual photos, and include more complex emotions.

    • 4

      Read books that feature emotional situations. Especially when teaching your child about emotions he has yet to personally experience, literature can be a helpful tool. If, for example, you are teaching your very young child about sadness, a picture book featuring a child who loses a toy can provide a medium for understanding the emotion more completely. For an older child, try a book in which the protagonist experiences a death in the family, giving him the opportunity to understand an even broader range of emotions

    • 5

      Discuss emotions with your child on a frequent basis. As your child works to understand how to process his emotions, it is helpful for him to have someone to talk to. Integrate asking your child how he is feeling each day into your daily routine. Don̵7;t let your child get away with one-word answers when engaging in these emotion-themed discussions, but instead ask probing questions that force him to really think about the feelings he is experiencing.

    • 6

      Share your feelings with your child. At first, emotions can be scary for children. Help take some of the fear out of the process of experiencing profound feelings by showing your child that everyone has emotions. When your child gives you details about his emotions, reciprocate, sharing your feelings with your child and, in doing so, allowing him to see that everyone feels emotions.

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