ECHO February 2020 20KRK016 Feb Newsletter | Page 2

Ridingwaves
the
of the
Emotion Ocean
We have all been there…our toddlers and preschoolers want what they want,
even when we know what is best for them. At times this can escalate to more
emotions than our children have the words for at times. We are responsible
to our children to teach them feeling words to process what they are feeling
and move to using words with these emotions instead of tantrums. So what
are some applicable ways to teach naming feelings in order to keep the waves
Young children experience a wide range of emotions. The feelings that adults label for infants and
toddlers on a regular basis are the foundation for the children’s emotional vocabulary. Think, for a
moment, about all of the emotions you experience in a typical day. You might, at times, be happy,
stressed, tired, attentive, engaged, jealous, frustrated, excited, or hopeful, to name just a few. Infants
and toddlers may not have the language to express themselves, but they are experiencing the same
variety and intensity of emotions as adults. Often the intense emotions, both positive and negative,
can be overwhelming for young children. Over time, you can help them learn ways to regulate their
responses to their strong feelings. When your toddler screams and kicks his feet to force his way,
naming those feelings will be important after the tantrum. As you are hugging him, you can say, “You
were upset and your face went like this.” (Your face can reflect a sad or angry face as you describe the
emotion connected.) Each time this happens and you offer the language connected to the feeling, soon
your child can take ownership of the language to use it instead of crying and screaming.
smooth in the emotion ocean? Let’s take a look at this example :
The children are playing with legos on the your own emotions as well as the emotions
floor. Another teacher sets up a new sensory of those around you is called emotional
experience at the table near them. When she literacy. Emotional literacy helps children
notices her audience she says, “You all look build friendships and develop empathy—the
curious about this activity! You are being ability to imagine how others are feeling—
patient while you wait to get started.” This and respond appropriately. Teachers and
teacher is using one of the most powerful family members can create an environment
strategies for supporting our infants, toddlers, that supports children’s emotional learning.
and preschoolers in their social and emotional Think about how long young children spend
development—labeling the emotions they listening to and practicing language before
are feeling in the moment. She recognizes they themselves can speak; it’s the same
that the children are both “curious” and with emotional literacy. When we create a
“patient.” When adults provide words for the climate of empathy and emotional support,
emotions that they believe young children are very young children can learn more about
experiencing, it gives children the language themselves and better understand their own
to describe the feelings. Understanding and others’ emotional experiences.
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While it’s often easier to come up with words for positive emotions (happy, silly) and negative emotions
(angry, jealous), neutral words are important too. Neutral words include feelings like comfortable,
patient, calm, interested, observant. When you use neutral words with infants and toddlers, they can
begin to connect the words with their feelings. For example, they can connect the word calm with
how calm feels. Then, when a toddler becomes overly excited or exuberant, and you ask him to “calm
down,” he will better understand what you mean. If a child feels frustrated when her blocks keep
falling down, it is an opportunity to support the child’s ability to regulate that feeling. She can take
some deep breaths to calm down and use that frustration as a motivation for doing things in a different
way. Because life will be full of difficult emotions, it is critical to help children learn how to regulate
the negative emotions without feeling bad when they have them.
What are you already doing to support children’s emotional literacy? Pay attention to how you respond
to all ages of children. Think about how your response might contribute to what they are learning
about feelings. Start using the words—it is never too early to start labeling the emotions a baby might
be feeling!
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