3 Tips From a Psychologist: How to Teach Your Child to React to the Emotions of Others

Childhood is a beautiful time, just as difficult for us as parents and for the little ones. It is in the first years of life that habits and attitudes are formed that the child will repeat and multiply more and more intensely during the period of growth.

The first thing parents need to do is learn not to react, but to act. For this, the emphasis must be on explicit communication with the feet; to explain to them what is good, how to act, and how not to react. This constant accomplishment will help you raise a child who is responsible and aware of the situation, but not a trained one who reacts emotionally.

Another important aspect is to teach the child to express his emotions, to recognize why he reacted exactly like that, how he feels about the cries or pushes of the other child. Sometimes parents impose their authority to change the child's behavior. Which is wrong. We must be very careful about what caused the child's emotion, reaction. We start by determining the cause to get effective results and changes.

In the relationships between children, there are various situations with emotional complexity, they try to imitate each other, take over certain reactions or patterns of behavior. This is why many parents face the problem - they do not know how to manage the child's reaction to the behavior of others.

Here are 3 practical tips on how to act in such situations.

Show the child how to appreciate and understand the emotions of others

Usually, children take an example from those around them. As a parent (his hero) you can be a role model by recognizing and capitalizing on the feelings of others, showing understanding and empathy when someone is sad, angry, upset, frustrated, or in need of help. When you are together, show empathy for other children, treat them warmly.

The role of the parent - to help the child to understand and name not only the emotions of others but also their feelings. Therefore, when the child reacts negatively to something, acknowledge how he feels, label the emotion for him.

Show interest and understanding until you are OK. Only then can you move on to another topic. The child sees this type of behavior and will repeat it in a similar situation.

Help the child make the connection between feelings, thoughts, and behaviors

When talking to your child about feelings, connect them with the thoughts and behaviors that caused them. This will make it easier for little ones to understand the cause and effect.

For example: "John is sad because Mike took his toy. What could make Ionel feel better? "

Teaching children about cause and effect can be done through storytelling, role-playing, or reading books. Talk to the children about the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of the characters. What could the characters do next? How do you think character X feels? Why do you think Y did that? How would you proceed in the same situation?

Link these scenarios to the child's experiences. For example, if the character is sad because his parents are missing, help the child remember the same feeling he had in a similar situation. This will make it easier to understand the connections between feelings, thoughts, and behavior. Later, the child will become sympathetic to another child in the same situation and will repeat the behavior, advice, context that you created.

If the little one is more than 5 years old, encourage him to imagine that he is in the situation of another child. Initiate a dialogue: "How do you think she feels? Why might he be upset? How can we help him? What would you do if you were in his place? "

Understanding this connection between behavior, feeling, and emotion, the child will be able to easily socialize, initiate a dialogue with another child, argue an action, to interact with peers without being influenced by them.

Teach the child to create a friendly atmosphere in communication with others

Whether in kindergarten, school, or on the playground, the first social relationships between children begin to take shape: leader, introvert, sociable, a child with aggressive behavior, etc. You need to be aware that some children may influence your child's behavior and mood.

If you intervene directly in their relationships you risk undermining your child's personality in the eyes of others, so that they may marginalize him or your child himself or she will prefer to isolate himself or herself. Instead, before you let him play, you can set some strict rules for everyone. friendly etc.).

We also need to teach the child how to relate when he or she is attacked by other children or if he or she tends to attack. We put him in different situations to understand how others around him feel when he is angry, or nervous, or aggressive, or what made the child behave like that; what would he do if he were in the situation of a child who was hit or shaken and made noise in the store because his parents did not buy him the toy he wanted.

However, you cannot forbid the expression of emotions of either your child or others, as requested by some parents. Inhibition of emotions does not contribute to their management, but to their storage and the creation of an internal nervous tension, which can cause somatic changes and can break out like a boomerang in any situation. It is very important to discuss with your child the limits of expressing emotions. Boundaries and discipline give children confidence and self-confidence.

Praise the child and highlight the gestures:

"Jim, you were very kind and caring that you helped your sister when she lost her favorite toy. She will remember this and she will want to help you when you need it! Is that so, Sarah? "

Empathy skills can help children succeed in life. Parents, teachers, educators, nannies, and even older siblings can play an important role in helping him to succeed.

Therefore, both communication and personal example, and parental consistency are important in training a child ready to interact with peers.