Taking a little time every day for feelings has an enormous impact over time
When teaching children about emotions, it helps to remember that a child who feels comfortable talking about, labeling, and playing with emotional concepts (try the MyFeelings! toys) can better manage relationships, make less reactive choices and express themselves creatively.
When we think about the enormous potential this simple teaching can offer, we take the time -- we take 5. Mental health diagnoses are associated with difficulties expressing or managing emotions. Some special education IEP categories are directly associated with difficulties managing emotions, which result in challenging behaviors. Children who have autism have difficulties recognizing emotions in their bodies, and using emotions to interpret social cues and follow emotional cues. A child who can think and recognize emotions can follow emotional cues and use them to problem solve, create, and relate. In a sense, our emotional energy is like the gasoline we fill our vehicles with. It allows us to move down the road just like emotions allow us to move through life.
Today, I invite you to "take five" to notice your own emotions and acknowledge them, and help a child do the same. I've posted short videos on the MyFeelings! product pages to outline how these toys help a child playfully and easily explore, label and interact with their emotions -- giving them the language to express and create. Take a peek and think about how you can "Take 5" to be an emotions coach. Here are the videos if you want to take a peek:
Tips for 'playing with emotions' using the MyFeelings! Huggables:
Tips for 'playing with emotions' using the MyFeelings! Minis:
Tips for 'having fun with feelings' using the MyFeelings! push molds:
Tips for 'having fun with feelings' using the MyFeelings! playmat:
Last but not least, a review of an audio c.d. for adults who want to map out their own emotional patterns: