Delay Correction
When your child is talking to you, resist the urge to correct them immediately, even if you think they’re wrong. Hear them out before responding. Better yet, go an extra step by asking your child follow-up questions to learn more about why they see things as they do. This approach acknowledges your child’s feelings and gets them talking. You are likely to get more cooperation when you are willing to hear their concerns versus simply correcting them.
Engage In Role-plays
Make your child imagine different situations and talk to them about it. Pretend to be a teacher, friend or classmate at school and practise conversations that they are perhaps having difficulty with. This way they will be able to re-enact the situation and have a conversation with you safely and it will also give them a chance to open up to you about their feelings.
Instead of reacting in such a way, try to empathise with them and acknowledge their feelings whether it’s anger, resentment or sadness.
Acknowledge their feelings
Sometimes children are reluctant to share their feelings with parents because they fear judgement or repercussions from their side. Instead of reacting in such a way, try to empathise with them and acknowledge their feelings whether it’s anger, resentment or sadness.
Sometimes children only want parents to acknowledge their feelings and simply just to listen to them. This activity of acknowledging, validating and listening to your children’s emotions will help them to respect other people’s emotions in the future.
Tenille Bentley is the founder of The Emotional Literacy and Mindfulness Academy For Kids and the author of the children’s emotional literacy series. The Emotional Literacy Academy provides at-home programs to help nurture and develop children’s emotional literacy, building confident and calm children with empathy, compassion and the tools to feel safe with their emotions. You can connect with them on Facebook and Instagram.
