Guiding your children in learning about their surroundings and the world around them from day one is important for their development. But it’s also just as important to help them understand what’s going on inside them, especially their emotional development. Dealing with big emotions when you’re younger can be particularly difficult and confusing, but with the right guidance, it doesn’t have to be.
At Playgarden Prep Tribeca, we want to help your child grow both emotionally as well as developmentally — as do all the best preschool curriculums out there — hitting all of those important benchmarks early on. That’s why our early education and enrichment center wants to offer you some tips when it comes to dealing with emotions and your little one’s social emotional learning in general.
Name That Feeling
One of the first things you can do to help your child on their social emotional learning journey in understanding what’s going on inside them emotionally is to talk with them and name the emotion they’re feeling. Are they feeling anger? Frustration? Anxiety? Disappointment? Determining what they’re feeling and then explaining what those feelings mean by placing them in an everyday context will help make it easier on them in the future.
Share Your Own Feelings
We all know that younger children learn best by example, so don’t be afraid to share your feelings with them. This will help them understand that everyone, old and young, has the same type of feelings. Children can be quite intuitive, meaning they’ll usually know if something’s wrong, so don’t put on a happy face all the time; it’s OK to tell them when you’re upset. Talk to them about your feelings and share your experiences with them, when you felt happy, or sad, or other emotions on your own social emotional learning journey.
Provide them With Coping Mechanisms
Giving your child tools to deal with their emotions is another way you can help move along their development. If they’re upset, simply telling them to calm down won’t help very much. Instead, try to have them think of happier times, or try to do something that will take their mind off things, like counting specific objects in a room or taking a few deep breaths. The best preschool curricula out there will do the same.
Let us be your little one’s education and enrichment center! If you want to get your child on the right path, then working with Playgarden Prep Tribeca is a great start. Contact us today by emailing tribeca@playgardenprep.com to learn more about our curriculum and other best preschool curriculum practices, or call us (212) 965-9717!
