This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Communicating Effectively with your Preschooler: Emotion Management

Communicating Effectively with your Preschooler: Emotion Management

Communicating effectively with preschool-aged children can be difficult and, at times, quite challenging. As we discussed last month, effective communication begins first with modeling of active, uninterrupted attention. Children must feel that they are being fully heard to learn to replicate this full attention and focus. This can be accomplished through active listening, taking the perspective of your child into consideration, and labeling emotions for your child.

The next great hurdle to effective preschool communication is handling all of those big feelings so natural in early childhood. For young children, emotions are raw, unconstrained, and often overwhelming. As adults, we have context and life experience to help us scale life issues; For young children, however, everything is felt at a higher intensity. When young children communicate to us, there is often a strong overlay of emotion. “I hate…. I am so sad because…. Let me do it!” It is important that children are allowed to express their emotions and to voice how they are feeling.

Find out what's happening in Limerick-Royersford-Spring Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Just as important to allowing children to voice their feelings, we as parents need to be mindful to use expression of our own emotions in situations where our child’s words or behavior challenge us. For example, when faced with a situation where you child was dishonest, the best reaction would be to personalize the behavior saying something like, “I am very disappointed that you lied to me” or “I feel sad that you did not tell me the truth.” While this seems such a small step, children understand the rawness of emotion and to hear how their behavior emotionally affected another is often a very effective way to discipline.

Sometimes the best way to handle strong emotions is to say very little and just allow your little one to get it out. Think of the way you would want a friend to talk to you. Be attentive, be reassuring, and offer gentle statements of understanding, such as “I know that can be frustrating” or “I see how upset you are.” Not all emotions or emotional situations warrant action or solution-finding.

Find out what's happening in Limerick-Royersford-Spring Citywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Lastly, when all else fails, try lightening the mood with a little friendly distraction. Share a funny story about yourself either in a similar situation or when you felt a similar way. Keep it light and fluffy with the goal of helping your child realize that others feel the same way and that you, the parent, really do understand. Next month, we will end our exploration of communicating effectively with your preschooler as we delve into some self-reflection and tackling tough topics of discussion.

                        Lauren Starnes, PhD- Director of Early Childhood Education
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?