Teaching Self-awareness To Children
Have you seen Inside Out? It released in 2015. This movie explores the connection between human emotions and interpersonal relationships. Pete Docter, the director of the movie, started developing this film in 2010 after he noticed changes in his daughter’s personality as she grew older. Emotions are a universal concern - a puzzle no one has solved yet.
Children pick up emotional habits and ways of expressing their feelings from their surroundings. They learn and mimic behaviour. The usual surroundings a child is exposed to is that of family and social communities. However, some children are either not exposed to such interactions or are ex- posed to unhealthy interactions. In such cases, there exits an extra responsibility. Although you can’t make a movie out of it, you can handle your child’s social-emotional learning in the classroom with the following tips.
Why should you help kids in identifying emotions?
Our body language gives away our true state of emotions. For example - a sad person usually has droopy shoulders. However, it is important to verbalise our emotions. Language experts say that vocabulary is necessary for creating memories. Life will become very confusing if we do not know the association between our emotions, body language, and verbal language. Hence, it is necessary to teach kids how to verbalise and identify their feelings and emotions.
How can you help kids in identifying different kinds of emotions?
To teach kids that feeling different emotions is normal, you have to teach them the vocabulary nec- essary to identify their emotions. In this way, you encourage them to express their feelings produc- tively. Certain cues that can be taught to kids to identify their emotions are described below.
• Facial Cues and Body Language - Paying attention to body signals is the first step for any kid to learn emotions. For example - frown and queasy stomach when nervous, tight shoul- ders when angry. Once they can recognise it in themselves, they can easily learn and react to similar expressions displayed by others.
• Clip Charts - Children learn best through visual references. Hence, another way to teach them to identify emotions is through a chart that displays facial expressions like happy face and sad face. In the era of technological advancements, one can even take help of different emoticons.
How can you teach kids a healthy way of expressing emotions?
This is important as unhealthy ways of expression can lead to faulty social-emotional learning. Whether a child wishes to express positive or negative emotions, it becomes an overwhelming task if the child isn’t aware of healthy ways of expression. Home is a great place to learn and practice this. Following mentioned ways can help in addressing this issue.
• “I Feel...” Statements - Such vocabulary is very handy especially when a situation of con- flict arises among siblings. Instead of fighting and hurling insults at one another, kids can learn to make statements like - “I feel sad that you broke my crayon”. It opens a communi- cation channel between them, giving them an opportunity to apologise and introspect on their actions.
• Addressing the whole brain - Certain emotional tsunamis put children through extreme roller coasters. In such cases, ignoring the scenario until the child forgets or just saying “don’t feel bad” will have no impact. Addressing the whole brain is the key to helping them in the best manner. A 2-step guide to do so is as follows -
Step 1 - To protect children from traumatic events, you should help them in telling their stories. You should give them a safe environment and lead them down a path of healthy expression of feelings by asking them questions like - Do you feel bad about moving to a new city because you miss your old friends? Once the child has opened up about their feelings, it is necessary to not make them seem trivial. They might not open up to you next time out of embarrassment.
Step 2 - If the child has calmed down, it is helpful to explain to them that such feelings come and go. You might tell a similar incident from your life and how you got over it. Children look up to their parents and a culture of sharing can boost a child’s morale.
• Teaching about Emotional Rights - It is necessary to teach children to express what makes them feel uncomfortable. For example - “I don’t like to be hugged”. Such a statement helps in determining physical boundaries and helps the child in avoiding unwanted feelings that might follow. Further, this helps a child in overcoming the negativity generated by state- ments like - “Only weak children cry. Be strong.” Bottling up emotions is not good for any- one. Hence, it is better to nip such habits in the bud.
Image Source: Very Well Family
• Connecting Experiences with Emotions - Emotional memory is very strong. It can be har- nessed into productive outcomes if children are taught to channel it positively. A few activi- ties that can be taught are listed below -
Journaling - Encouraging students to channel their feelings into artistic activity is helpful. It teach- es them to express their feelings by honing their creative side. Further, it enhances classroom learn- ings like handwriting, spelling, vocabulary, and writing skills.
Physical Activity - Sports is a good way to handle unmanageable emotions. There is nothing that a good running session cannot solve. However, with respect to kids, other activities like playing doh can also be counted under the category of physical activity. The concentration and effort required in such activities is equal to meditation. Hence, it helps in resolving emotions.
What is the most important aspect of teaching children about handling emotions?
The most important aspect of teaching children about emotions is to teach them to have a positive mindset. Although it sounds a very ordinary thing to do, positivity is cultivated in any person through practice. One has to learn to look for the light at the end of the tunnel. Such an activity can be cultivated in children through activities like vision boards or heart maps. These activities encour- age children to think about things that make them happy or things that they desire thereby, fuelling a positive mindset.
