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Development Topics
Your Child’s Emotions
Acknowledging Your Child’s Feelings
The key to helping your child feel understood is to acknowledge his feelings. Follow these steps to get more in tune with your child:
1. Label the feeling: For younger children, the simpler label you offer the better. Use words like mad, happy, sad and scared. For older children, more specific words help them to pinpoint the exact emotion: disappointed, worried and embarrassed.
2. State the reason for the feeling. Make your best guess as to why your child feels as he does. For example, say, “It looks like you’re mad because Mom said you can’t have dessert today.”
3. Don’t judge your child. Your child needs to know that it is okay to express emotion. However, at times you may need to teach your child how to express his feelings in ways that are healthy and not hurtful to others.
Do you have thoughts, questions, advice on this topic? Post your stories and comments in the forum for other parents to respond to. Enter the forum now.
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