So much of the work that we do is about helping children to understand their emotions and to help staff to support children to recognise and manage their emotions.
This illustration by lucyclaireillustration puts it perfectly: it is okay to feel.
Many of the children that we work with think they should not get angry – there is nothing wrong with feeling anger (we all do), but it is what we do when we feel this emotion that is important. So many children find it hard to talk about feeling disappointed, embarrassed, anxious, frustrated (the emotions that they perceive as being negative), but we work with them to help them see that it is okay to feel these feelings. We then work on a strategy that will work for them to help them deal with the emotion.
This week, I was sitting with a child who was doing some drawings. I can draw, but I need to copy; he, however, was amazing at drawing from memory – he drew the characters from Inside Out and Inside Out 2. While drawing he gave me detailed accounts about the characters and what the feelings they represent meant; his vocabulary was extensive, and he understood the emotion. We now just need to work on helping him to recognise these feelings in the moment and give him a strategy to control them.
Remember: it is okay to feel, that’s what makes us human, that’s what makes you you.
Reach Behaviour 