1. Start a family routine of writing in a gratitude journal. Designate a time in your daily routine to reflect on things that you are grateful for each day. Your gratitude journal can be kept private or you can establish a routine of sharing each family member's reflections each day. Use this free gratitude journal from Calm or create your own. For more ideas about how to help your children develop gratitude, see this video, “How to talk to your kids about Gratitude.”
2. “It can be easy to get caught up in your emotions as you’re feeling them. Most people don’t think about what emotions they are dealing with, but taking the time to really identify what you’re feeling can help you to better cope with challenging situations.” Utilize these tips for success from Mental Health America which includes the importance of “allowing” ourselves to feel and not ignoring those feelings. Try utilizing one of the “what’s underneath” prompts with your child when they are experiencing a big emotion. You can also use the three step process here to talk to kids about their emotions by heightening awareness, naming it and exploring together.
3. A key to managing our emotions is practicing reflection and noticing our emotions.
An activity for older children: Try listening to this 5 minute guided meditation that will help you and your older children notice emotions. This “Self-Compassion Break” provides self talk practices to guide your thinking during a challenging time.
An activity for young children: Help your young child identify their emotions by practicing different emotions with Sesame Street character, Abby. Follow along as she dances and talks about emotions with this video here.
4.Managing emotions is also about recognizing that as parents we cannot allow anger, worry or sadness negatively impact the health and safety of our children. Use art to talk about these important issues with your children. The Coachella Valley HOPE Collaborative is sponsoring a “Child Abuse Prevention” art contest for the month of April. Talk to your children about the importance of controlling one’s anger and preventing child abuse while they create art. See here for details regarding the official art contest.
