[Miranda]

Conscious disapline

[Jewels A]

It is necessary to consistently practice emotional intelligence and self-control lest children mature into emotional illiterates. It is a powerful tool to describe the descriptive language of their internal emotions, tell them phrases like «you look like you are in sorrow I see that you are looking at my picture with annoyance” in order to give it a name, and teach them what certain feelings are called. It will require practicing sensitivity so that not only is there a space for the expression of all emotions without shame, but it is also easy for the children to talk about their feelings without feeling guilty. Giving simple activities as th ostensive and constructive techniques such as calming down strategies such as deep breathing or counting until ten helps children to stay calm. Charts on how to show various emotions e.g. Feelings faces is another way that children will learn all about emotions and extremely useful especially for those who are still dealing with self regulation tasks and anxiety stages. One also learns about emotions through books and scenarios whereby during role-play a character feels a given emotion. In addition, children’s socio-emotional competences receive a push when they learn how to recognize their negative emotions and motorize negative emotions selectively without resorting to physical altercations. Further practicing of such a taught behavior is developmental, in that children enhance their capacity to deal with feelings in complex situations.

[Jada Pieterick]

By allowing child to express their emotions and validating that their feelings matter and are important. In order to support children in identifying their emotions, this is something that can be done through readings, activities, discussions. Explaining that no emotion is bad and that everyone feels different emotions helps support children feel as though their feelings matter and they are allowed to express them in a way that keeps themselves and others safe.

[Marie Ann D.]

I have found that modeling emotions and how to navigate them works, especially for younger children. Children go through so many emotions in a day and sometimes not being able to communicate them can make them feel frustrated. Something that I have done in my classroom is use the book ‘The Color Monster’ to help kids pinpoint what they’re feeling. We ended up making it part of our daily routine by asking the kids to point at how they’re feeling (we have the different colors of the Color Monster on the wall). One instance I felt good about was when I was working with two-year-olds. I had a child who was feeling upset because we couldn’t go out to the playground because it was raining. He was still working on his speech, so whenever he tried to communicate, I couldn’t always understand him clearly. When he realized that I couldn’t understand what he was saying, he grabbed a piece of paper and drew his best version of the red Color Monster, showing that he was angry. It finally clicked that he was angry we couldn’t go play outside so when I asked if that was what was wrong, he excitedly agreed. A tool like this is beneficial not only for the children but also for us as teachers.

I have also found that doing puppet shows helps children learn how to navigate emotions and problem-solve. We can create scenarios that the children could encounter in the classroom like being sad because a friend doesn’t want to play with them or them missing their parents. We can talk through these scenarios, validate their emotions, and find a way to redirect them. I have found that this has worked for me in the past and I will continue to do it! Emotions can be tricky to navigate, even as adults, so it wouldn’t be realistic for us to expect that children will have it all figured out. It’s important that we take the time to get to know each child as an individual and know that they will all process things differently and might need different kinds of support.

[shayla Fanony]

One of the best ways is to help children identify their emotions themselves. Letting a child express themselves through their own explanation, instead of trying to tell a child how they feel or how they should feel, is very helpful.

[Bailey Cavender]

One of the best ways to help a child regulate their emotions is to actively listen, and help the child brainstorm ideas about what to do.

[Rachel Coon]

Label and point out stress responses in their body so they can identify them without you. Role play during non-stressful moments to teach them how to engage their upper mind. Practice self calming techniques like deep breathing/hot chocolate breathing, especially in the designated safe space for the child.

[Anwesha Ray]

When the child has calmed down and is now receptive then we can role-play.

Encourage them to come up with their own solutions

Deep breathing

[Betsy Holder]

• The best ways to help children understand and control their emotions is to first listen to them and identify what they are feeling. Make sure they know that you understand and are sympathetic. If they don’t feel like talking observe them and help identify it for them. A example that happens frequently is when a child falls and asking them “does your body hurt or did that scare you” because often times kids will be inconsolably crying and it’s because they are shocked or afraid not really injured. Once they are able to understand and name their emotions you can teach them to control them by role playing, talking about appropriate coping strategies and reminding them that they have a support system.

[Maryleen Wonne]

Some of the best ways to help children recognize their emotions and control their responses is to let them express their emotions freely, offer breathing exercises, let them speak and listen attentively, and helping and supporting them work out their emotions and identify them so they can learn.

[Swati Vivek]

Helping kids to identify their own feelings and then helping them to follow the calming technique will help over the period of time. Regular repetition of the discussion that involves feeling, how we feel and our body may behave and what can we do to make us feel better will help kids identify their feelings by themselves.

[Sasha]

Some of the best way would be to let them express themselves to you whenever they are acting out.

[Kay]

I think the best way to help children learn emotions is to state the emotion that you’re seeing. For example, saying “I see that your head is down and your mouth is turned upside down like this. You seem sad.” You can help them learn to regulate emotions and control their responses through teaching breathing and body scans.

[angela packer]

Helping them by describing what different emotions feel like and something to do that will help feeling like that.

[Juana]

If a child takes a toy away from another child and makes them cry, the best thing to do is have that child recognize the other child is sad and did not like your actions, do we want to check on the other child and make sure they are okay. Can we give them their toy back and ask if we can share or have a turn