How to Manage Your Children's Emotions with Storybooks
As a parent, I always want my kids to be happy, and there's nothing more fulfilling than seeing them play, eat, read a children's storybook, or sleep soundly after a bedtime story. Their joy brings me great happiness, but I also know that children's emotions can quickly change from happy to sad, sometimes for no apparent reason. This is a challenge that comes with parenthood. I have discovered that kids learn and manage faster if they get involved with an activity. In my case, what helped was reading storybooks. Handling children's emotions is crucial for them to identify and manage their feelings, which will enable them to build better relationships with others as they grow older. By getting them involved with reading and personalizing storybooks, it helps them adapt better and manage their emotions well. With proper guidance and helpful tips on handling your child's emotions, they will be able to express themselves freely with a better understanding of their emotions.
Labelling Your Child's Feelings with Storybooks
The first step in handling your child's emotions is through labelling. When my kids were younger, I taught them the basic terms for emotions like sad, happy, or hungry. Each time I read them a storybook, I observed their expressions and talked about how they were feeling. Making storytime a habit helped them remember what emotions they felt during the stories, gradually allowing them to identify and understand these emotions. As they matured, I introduced more advanced terms like frustrated, confused, or excited. This method not only helped them identify their emotions quicker but also taught them how to respond to each emotion. Here are a few storybooks that can help you handle your child's emotions. How Do You Feel? by Lizzy Rockwell. This book introduces toddlers ages 0-3 to the feelings they are most likely to encounter on the playground and can help them recognize the emotions in themselves and other children. Another storybook is My Little Box of Emotions by DK. Recommended for ages 3 - 5 years old, this book comes with simple text and vibrant illustrations and is a perfect story book to educate young minds about their feelings from anger to happiness and every emotion in between, children will learn how to recognize their emotions.
Associating Their Feelings through Indicators with Storybooks
Children often express their feelings through actions or behaviors. For instance, when they are happy, they smile, and when they are sad, they frown. If a child is hungry, they might touch their belly or point to their mouth. These indicators provide an opportunity for you to teach them about their emotions based on their actions. You can also use nursery rhymes or stories that encourage specific expressions, like clapping hands when happy. During our bedtime routine of reading stories, I noticed my kids would smile whenever I picked up a storybook, so I told them that their smiles showed they were happy. Reading a storybook together is an excellent way to associate emotions with specific situations and expressions, allowing them to better understand their feelings as they listen. I once read a story about a parent who associates feelings with emotional indicators by saying things like "You're frowning because you're sad that your friend can't come over and play. I would be sad, too." or "I can tell that you are happy with that big smile because you received a gift you wanted for your birthday."
Developing Coping Mechanisms with Storybooks
Remember that a child's emotions can quickly change, and sometimes it's challenging to identify the trigger, especially when they feel sad or disappointed. This is where developing coping mechanisms can be very beneficial. For young children, a good hug can often soothe them. One night, while reading my kids a story with a sad ending, I noticed their disappointment. Like any normal reaction, they cried because the ending wasn't what they expected, but they hugged each other until they felt better. It occurred to me that storybooks can offer various plots and opportunities for them to develop coping techniques. As they grow older, their emotions become more intense, making it even more crucial for them to have strategies to compose themselves. Encouraging them to independently find ways to ease their feelings will strengthen their emotional and mental resilience. A few storybooks to help you with this technique are Grumpy Monkey, Ruby Finds a Worry and The Color Monster: A Story About Emotions.
Handling your child's emotions is a complex task. From a young age, educate them about different emotions and how they can learn from them. As they gain a better understanding of their emotions, they will be better equipped to relate to and understand adults' feelings as they grow older.