Friday, April 22, 2022

Coping with Frustration

 Frustration is a problem for most children. This is why some children throw tantrums.  They have not yet developed the ability to cope with their frustration and so they act out in inappropriate ways. Adults have the responsibility to teach children to listen to their emotions, accept their emotions and cope with their emotions. Dr. Porter discusses ways children can cope with their emotions and why this is important.  Karen Porter discusses her 'I Feel When' books and how the social context of each emotion is played out in their YouTube video and podcast 'I Feel Frustrated When You Don't Come Down'.

I know it is really easy to prescribe different methods to help your child cope with their emotions.  There are hundreds of 'experts' out there ready to tell you a technique or a plan for you to implement.  Some of them will work.  Some of them will not. But it is through constant modeling, exposing, and interaction that you can make positive change in the right direction.  I hope that my exploration of feelings in a social context easy for children to grasp will help others identify and work with their own feelings.

Tuesday, April 12, 2022

Fear is an Alert system to protect us.

 Fear is an emotion that some people believe you should ignore.  I like to look at fear as an alert system that tells the brain a story.  It is like an alarm that says "Hey!  You have to watch out here.  First we notice what is going on.  Then we analyze the real situation. Third we react.