YLV Ep 39 Helping your child with BIG feelings: Ways to support your child’s emotional literacy | With Susanna Shirtcliffe

Teach emotional awareness to children.
Emotional literacy, or emotional awareness, is the understanding of one’s emotions and behaviours. Suzanne believes that it is crucial to teach children emotional literacy from a young age, as it helps them understand why they behave the way they do and normalises the scope of emotions that they experience.

Suzanne’s own journey as a mother to two neurodiverse children inspired her to create emotional literacy resources. She believes that emotional literacy is essential for learning, as children who are not happy and emotionally stable cannot learn effectively. Moreover, she emphasizes the importance of communicating big feelings to alleviate the suppression of emotions, which can lead to negative consequences.

She finds defiant behavior the most challenging to deal with in her own children, who often fight with each other. However, she acknowledges that power struggles between parents and children are common and that children have the right to express themselves. Suzanne recommends using visual resources, such as her Every Day I am a Rainbow cards, to teach emotional awareness.

Visual aids for emotional expression.
It is helpful to use visual aids for emotional expression, particularly for children who may struggle with verbalising their emotions. Susanna suggests drawing as a way to discuss conflicts or emotions, as it is often easier and less confronting for children than direct questioning. Visual aids can also help children understand and recognise different emotions, as they can see what they look like through drawings or colours.

It is important to keep checking in with children and acknowledging their emotions, as this can prevent negative behaviours from escalating. For families with neurodiverse children, being conscious of the fact that all behaviours have a precursor and that it may not always be obvious what triggers a meltdown or tantrum. However, checking in and using visual aids can still be effective tools for emotional expression and understanding.

Embrace emotions, find solutions
Susanna emphasises the need for parents to understand their child’s behaviour and look beyond it to identify the precursor to their emotions. She also highlights the concept of masking, where children try to appear calm and collected while internally experiencing turmoil.

To foster emotional literacy, she recommends creating a safe environment where children can express their feelings. She suggests using visual aids, such as her Everyday I’m a Rainbow cards, to help children identify and understand their emotions. The cards feature vibrant colours and descriptions of emotions, as well as solutions for self-regulation. Susanna also recently launched a digital workbook that prompts children and parents to write down their emotions and engage in interactive activities.

Overall, the podcast emphasises the importance of embracing emotions and finding solutions to manage them. By acknowledging and understanding their emotions, children can learn to regulate them and prevent negative behaviours from escalating. Using visual aids and creating a safe environment can be effective ways to teach emotional literacy to children. Ultimately, emotional literacy is a crucial aspect of personal development that can benefit individuals throughout their lives.

Visual cues aid emotional literacy
One key point made in the podcast is that visual cues are essential in aiding emotional literacy. Children often struggle to express their emotions verbally, especially if they don’t have a strong emotional vocabulary. Visual cues, such as drawing an angry face or using different colours to represent different emotions, can help children identify and communicate their feelings more effectively.

Parents can use these visual aids to create a safe and open environment for their children to express themselves. By modelling emotional regulation and sharing their own emotions, parents can help their children feel more comfortable sharing their own feelings. This can lead to better communication and a stronger emotional bond between parents and children.

Furthermore, it is important to not overcomplicating emotional literacy. Parents may feel overwhelmed or unsure of how to approach their child’s emotions, but sometimes simple solutions can be the most effective. By sitting down with their child and using visual cues to explore emotions, parents can create a low-pressure environment that encourages open communication and emotional growth.

By creating a safe and open environment and using simple visual aids, parents can help their children develop a strong emotional vocabulary and regulate their emotions effectively. Emotional literacy is a crucial aspect of personal development that can benefit individuals throughout their lives, and parents can play a key role in fostering emotional growth in their children.