When children start expressing their feelings they need to be able to use kind words when speaking to others. Being able to express emotions and feelings are the beginning stages to making friends and resolving conflicts.
Here are a few tips:
Give children the words to express their emotions/or how they are feeling. Sometimes children don’t have the words to express their frustration or other emotions. Dialog with them saying things like “I can see you are feeling frustrated, upset, angry…do you know why you are feeling that way?” “It looks like you are having a hard time…how is this making you feel?” “What can we do to change this and help you feel better?”
You can also talk about this with positive feelings such as: “I like the way you are talking to others-that’s very positive,” “You sound happy to me” “I like the way you are helping others–how do you think that makes them feel?”
Here are two books that I recommend reading with children that work on giving names to their emotions. “The Way I feel Book,” and “Mad Maddie Maxwell.”
