How To Support Your Child's Strongest Feelings

00:00 Show intro

01:28 Why it’s so important to work on supporting children’s emotions 

01:59 The big deal about EQ

02:52  How many parents respond to their child's feelings

06:44 What not to do when your child is in meltdown

07:34 3 easy steps to support your child’s big feelings

10:06 Your Actionable Take-Away Task

10:55 Chilled Out Tool In The Spotlight

13:24 Show wrap-up 

Key takeaways:

• Children are born knowing how to express their feelings, but what they don’t know how to do is identify, process, and understand them
• Emotional intelligence is defined as a person's ability to express and manage feelings appropriately and is a set of skills that children can begin learning at any age
• Many parents unknowingly deny and distract their children from experiencing their feelings, which means they miss out on an important lesson about what their feelings are for.  
• When we suggest a child’s problem isn’t that big a deal, or there are worse problems to have, this devalues their experience and emotions.
• It’s important not to see tantrums and meltdowns as bad behaviour or something your child is doing on purpose. The worst thing we can do when our children are dysregulated is become angry at them or send them away to calm down on their own.
• We want our children to understand that all feelings, even the really uncomfortable ones, are normal and healthy to have - and that everyone feels them.
• Many parents spend more time problem-solving and giving advice rather than listening to their child’s feelings. Staying present and available is essential for supporting big feelings.

If you'd like to know more about implementing calm, responsive parenting, you can get my book, Chilled Out Mum, here.

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Ready for the next episode?

Stay tuned for the next episode of Chilled Out Parenting, where we’ll be looking at improving your child’s listening skills! How you can get your message across faster and clearer so you don’t get that talking-to-a-brick-wall feeling… If this area has been a struggle for you, be sure to tune in next week!