Do Toddlers Pick Up on Your Emotions?

Although you might think that your 2-year-old is blissfully unaware as you clench your teeth in frustration and grimace at the impossibly slow teen who is ringing up your order at the grocery store, she is actually picking up on your emotions. While your toddler may not have the words to express feelings that range from the negative -- such as anger -- to the more positive -- such as happiness or glee -- she can recognize them when she sees them on your face.

  1. Emotional Development

    • According to the child development pros at PBS Parents, by 2-years-old most toddlers can recognize emotions through facial expressions and word labels. For example, if you tell your toddler, "Mommy feels sad when you hit," your child is able to understand both the look on your face and the words that you are saying. However, even though this ability signals that your toddler is on his way to a more sophisticated type of emotional development, it's likely that he will still struggle when it comes to controlling his own emotions and expressing them with his own words.

    Role Model

    • You don't need to sit your toddler down to teach her a lesson on emotions. Your toddler is gaining new knowledge and developing skills simply by watching what you are doing. Acting as a role model is an easy way to help your child understand how to identify and control her emotions. For example, if you are feeling angry when someone cuts in front of you in a lengthy check-out line, act in a way that you would want your child to. By picking up on your anger at the situation, and seeing how you react to the frustration, your toddler learns how to handle such situations herself. You wouldn't want her to throw a fit and start yelling when another child cuts in front of her at the day care drinking fountain line, therefore you shouldn't do the same. Take a breath, control your anger and show your toddler how you can use your polite words to ask the offender to please take her proper place in line.

    Behavior Changes

    • Researchers at the University of Washington note that toddlers may actually have the ability to pick up on other people's emotions and change their behaviors accordingly. An angry adult presence may make a toddler hesitant to play or make the toddler feel frightened. For example, if you are clearly displaying anger -- even if you aren't actually directing it at your child -- he may change his happy face to a much more fearful looking one. Likewise, if you show worry, frustration or another negative emotion, he may pick up on these feelings and react with his own not-so-happy behavior.

    Comfort

    • The ability to pick up on an adult's emotions doesn't always have negative consequences. While anger, frustration and fear may worry your toddler, positive emotions such as happiness can provide a sense of comfort. Instead of playing to your child's emotions -- such as getting frustrated when she is feeling overwhelmed -- turn her mood around by bringing on a happy emotion. You could tense your body, put your hands on your hips and yell when she cries because you won't give her a cookie; but it doesn't really help the situation. Instead, radiate a more calming emotion that may help her to relax and settle down.

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