How To Talk To A Child About Feelings?

Feeling is a conscious experience of some knowledge. In addition to basic emotions, that is, happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise, one also feels other more complex emotions.Emotions guide human action, so they have a huge impact on our lives. Children are not yet fully able to recognize, control or express their own feelings, nor do they always always interpret the feelings of others. Today we talk about why it is important for parents to talk to a child about feelings and how a child can be helped to identify and control their own feelings and thereby behave appropriately.

Why talk to a child about feelings?

According to both research and experience, emotional education at home is important for the well-being of all family members. The purpose is to provide tools for the child to learn to regulate and express their feelings instead of avoiding or exaggerating them. Emotions are not meant to be suppressed, but specifically controlled. The child needs to learn how to express their feelings in any situation.

The benefits of emotional education include:

• Helps the child feel better
• Helps the child better control their environment
• Important for the child’s social development
• Prevents aggressive behavior
• Helps reduce antisocial and self-destructive behavior
• Reduces the risk of starting addictive drugs

What does a child need to know about emotions?

The child has emotions at birth. However, the ways in which a child acts when experiencing emotions have been learned. The direction a child’s life path will go may depend on how he or she knows how to manage his or her emotions. Sometimes emotions serve as our guides. However, it is important to learn to interpret them. That is why it is important to know how to talk about feelings to a child.

First, it is important for the child to talk about basic lessons:

• Anger is a feeling that a child often experiences when he or she does not get what he or she wants. If a child is not taught to control this emotion, he or she may later experience associated behavioral problems.
• Fear is a feeling of insecurity that is known when faced with an imaginary or real danger. In some cases, fear can also be a positive feeling, as it motivates you to act with reservation. However, it is important for a child to learn to control fear so that it does not negatively affect the child’s life.
• Disgust means aversion to someone or something. For example, a child may dislike a particular food.
• Grief is a feeling caused by pain, which can also be accompanied by crying. Grief can be associated with imaginary or real loss. A child may feel sad if, for example, he or she has lost his or her toy or lost a pet.

• Happiness is a feeling of pleasure that can be caused by an event, person, thing, or desire. Joy encourages action, affection, and gratitude.
• Surprise is a feeling caused by surprise. It helps the child understand new things, and it also motivates them to look for answers and solutions.

Exercises for talking about emotions

You can include the following hands-on exercises in your daily routine with your child:

• Emotional script. Write different emotions on a piece of paper. Based on these feelings written on the paper, the child can use a character or doll to present a story. This play encourages the child to express their own feelings.
• Emotional police. In this exercise, you give the child characters from different stories, TV shows, or magazines, and ask the child to describe what emotions the character feels. Once the child has recognized the emotions experienced by the character, the child should explain why the character feels that way.

Talking about emotions through music

The child’s ability to process music develops very early. Music also greatly affects a child’s mood. Music helps to release emotional functions as well as repressed energy. For this reason, music can be a great tool to teach a child about emotions. Choose from a variety of music genres and listen to songs with your child while enjoying them. When the song is over, ask the child what emotions the song evoked in him.

Keeping a diary

Keeping a diary can be helpful for a child over the age of 6 who may have difficulty expressing emotions. By writing a diary, the child does not feel pressured that he or she should talk about his or her feelings. Gradually, the child learns to express himself more freely.

Supporting the development of a child’s emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize one’s own feelings as well as those of others. By learning to talk to a child about feelings, parents have better access to the child’s inner world. At the same time, it also opens the door for the child to know himself better, which promotes his well-being and happiness.

Parents can try the following tips to develop their child’s emotional intelligence:

• Motivate the child to express their feelings.
• Help the child identify their own preferences, needs, opinions, desires and limitations.
• Motivate the child to solve the problems themselves, but offer help if needed.
• Recognize your child’s efforts.
• Teach your child to recognize their own mistakes and help them understand that making mistakes is a normal and essential part of learning.
• Explain to the child how important it is to respect the preferences and feelings of others.