Buzz
Một số trẻ nhỏ thường biểu hiện cảm xúc mạnh mẽ như nổi giận, khóc nhiều, thất vọng nhanh hoặc quá phấn khích so với bạn bè cùng tuổi. Sự giàu cảm xúc ở trẻ sẽ đặt ra những thách thức trong cuộc sống hàng ngày của họ.
Trẻ giàu cảm xúc thường có biểu hiện mạnh mẽ như thường xuyên nổi giận hoặc quá phấn khích. Ảnh: freepik
Ba mẹ nên hướng dẫn trẻ cách quản lý những cảm xúc tiêu cực, phát triển nhận thức để giúp trẻ nhìn nhận tích cực hơn về mọi tình huống. Mytour sẽ chia sẻ những phương pháp hiệu quả để dạy con những kỹ năng này.
Hướng dẫn trẻ hiểu về cảm xúc
Nói với trẻ rằng mọi cảm xúc không vui trong lòng đều có tên gọi. Ba mẹ nên dạy trẻ nhận biết và xác định cảm xúc. Ví dụ ba mẹ có thể nói: “Ba/mẹ thấy con buồn” hoặc “Ba/mẹ thấy con không bình tĩnh”.
Ngoài ra, ba mẹ cũng nên chia sẻ cảm xúc của mình như: “Ba/mẹ buồn vì hôm nay không thể đi thăm bà” hoặc “Ba/mẹ ngạc nhiên vì hôm nay những cậu bé kia lại khá xấu tính.”
Bắt đầu các cuộc trò chuyện về cảm xúc với con bằng cách nói về các nhân vật trong sách hoặc chương trình truyền hình. Ba mẹ có thể hỏi: “Con cảm thấy nhân vật này thế nào?”
Nhận biết cảm xúc có thể giúp trẻ mạnh mẽ và thường xuyên thực hành điều này sẽ cải thiện cảm xúc của trẻ.
Phân biệt cảm xúc và hành vi
Ba mẹ nên dạy trẻ rằng thể hiện cảm xúc là điều bình thường nhưng hành vi phải đúng
Ba mẹ nên chỉ dẫn trẻ biểu hiện cảm xúc phù hợp với tình huống, ví dụ như không nên la hét ầm ĩ ở cửa hàng hoặc nổi cáu ở trường.
Giải thích cho trẻ biết rằng cảm xúc như tức giận hoặc sợ hãi là bình thường, nhưng trẻ phải có hành vi đúng đắn khi cảm thấy không thoải mái.
Ví dụ, trẻ có quyền tỏ ra tức giận với người khác nhưng không nên đánh họ. Hoặc có thể cảm thấy không vui vì cửa hàng hết món kem mà trẻ thích, nhưng không có nghĩa là trẻ phải lăn lộn trên sàn nhà để khóc lóc và làm phiền người khác.
Ba mẹ nên lên án trẻ vì hành vi không đúng chỗ thay vì vì cảm xúc tiêu cực. Ví dụ, ba mẹ có thể nói: “Con không được chơi tiếp vì đã đánh em trai” hoặc “Con sẽ không được dùng đồ chơi này vì con la hét quá ồn ào.”
Bài viết có liên quan: Bí quyết giáo dục trí tuệ cảm xúc cho trẻ mầm non - Ba mẹ có thể áp dụng ngay từ hôm nay
Cảm thông
Fully embrace
Parents often struggle with emotionally rich children because sometimes they can't understand why the child feels that way. Children need to learn to recognize, understand, and cope with their emotions, and feeling accepted by everyone will greatly help the child.
Some people call overly sensitive children shy, weak, which can harm them. Crying, getting angry, feeling disappointed is not bad and not a sign of weakness.
Everyone has a different personality, and sensitivity is just a small part, so let children know that parents always accept them for who they are.
Related article: Developing social skills for preschoolers at home, what should parents do?
Teaching children emotional regulation
The ability to regulate emotions largely depends on the age and development of the child. Before a child reaches 24 or 36 months old, their ability to control emotions is often very low. However, parents can still start teaching children how to manage emotions.
When attending kindergarten, many children already have the necessary skills to start learning how to regulate their emotions. Below are some useful skills parents can teach children:
Parents teach children to control emotions by practicing deep breathing
- Practice deep breathing: Parents should teach children how to inhale through the nose and then exhale slowly through the mouth (Try teaching children with the phrase: 'smell a flower, then blow a bubble'). Parents can do this with children a few times when they are upset, and encourage children to do it themselves when necessary.
- Counting to calm down: Teach children to distract themselves from uncomfortable thoughts by counting. Counting from 1 to 10 or 100 is a way to help children reduce anxiety.
- Resting: Parents can give children some time to rest and calm down. Let the child know to do this before engaging in wrong behavior. This will help the child control themselves.
Effective emotion regulation tools attract children's senses. Photo: freepik
- Create a calming toolkit for children: Coloring books, colored pencils, stickers, pictures that children like, and gentle music can attract their senses and help them regulate their emotions.
- Problem-solving with children: If strong emotions cause problems for children such as friends not wanting to play because the child cries a lot or gets angry when losing, parents should sit down and solve the problem with the child. Parents should ask the child to express their desires and provide solutions to that problem.
- Identify mood triggers: Parents should learn about what children like to do when they feel happy, such as playing outside, reading a funny story, or singing favorite songs.
Write these down and tell the child that these are things that make them feel more comfortable. When the child feels bad, encourage them to engage in one of these activities to control negative emotions.
Avoid triggering intense emotions in children
Children may experience intense emotional outbursts when parents inadvertently behave inappropriately. Photo: freepik
How parents react to children's emotions will make a difference, sometimes parents inadvertently trigger intense emotions in children. If parents are trying to help children regulate their emotions well, they should avoid:
- Rewarding when children calm down: If parents give children a special gift every time they control their emotions, children may learn that crying or yelling at others is a good way to get what they want.
- Bathing children: Although when emotions erupt, parents must make children comfortable, including bathing, but should not abuse it. Parents wouldn't want children to know that discomfort is the best way to get attention.
- Frequently soothing children: Comforting when children are angry is very helpful, but parents also need to teach children the necessary skills to calm down and control their emotions when parents are not around.
- Advising children to stop crying: This will make children more uncomfortable because they will think they are doing something wrong and it will not make it easy for children to stop crying.
- Announcing that the child is sensitive: If parents tell every teacher, coach, or friends' parents that the child is sensitive, parents may be sending a message that the child cannot be controlled.
Providing detailed information about a child's temperament is not a mandatory requirement. Only provide this information if parents think it will be helpful or make people change their approach when interacting with the child. Parents should say positive things like 'My child is emotionally rich'.
Related article: Activities to develop children's emotional and social skills
Challenges for children
Parents can help children avoid unpleasant things. For example, if parents know a sad movie is being shown, they should not let the child watch it.
However, helping children avoid all difficult challenges from the realities of life can backfire. To achieve success and a quality life, children need to practice handling various emotions in different contexts.
Parents should give children many opportunities to manage their emotions instead of sheltering them from every difficult situation and relying on their intuition to know what is appropriate for the child.
When children need to see a doctor
Parents should take children to see a doctor if they notice abnormal emotions in children
Although children need to learn to regulate emotions from the early years of learning to walk, research shows that children truly control emotions around 8 or 9 years old. However, issues parents need to be aware of and seek help from a pediatrician include:
- Children face difficulties in communication, influenced by health-related issues such as ear infections, psychological issues, or other medical conditions.
- Children suddenly find it harder to manage emotions than usual.
- Children's emotions cause many problems in daily life such as: excessive crying and inability to concentrate in class, difficulties in maintaining friendships because they cannot control their anger.
Studies have shown a relationship between regulatory disorders and a range of mental health issues in children, including anxiety, depression, aggression, substance abuse, suicidal intentions, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Fortunately, researchers believe that parents teaching children to regulate emotions can help children progress.
Once medical or psychological issues have been ruled out, parents can implement measures as mentioned to prevent emotional richness from becoming a major issue as children grow up.
Conclusion
Emotionally rich children often perceive everything intensely, and that's just an innate trait. When children become overly emotional, they may feel extremely angry or they may also be very empathetic towards others and become passionate leaders. Parents should support, guide, and be patient so that children can learn to manage and regulate emotions appropriately. This process can sometimes be exhausting for parents but can bring lifelong benefits to children.
Ngọc Hà tổng hợp từ Verywell Family
