Do you know how to help your children with their feelings or big behaviors?

Often parents wonder why they need to acknowledge kids’ emotions…One of the most important skills for raising children who are securely attached to you is being able to help your children co-regulate their emotions. Many parents shy away from emotions or get overwhelmed by feelings themselves. Other parents do not see the value in focusing on emotions. The research on secure attachment points to parental attunement being the biggest predictor of secure attachment in children. This means that parents are available and responsive—both in activities and daily interactions and in emotional moments. Children need to know that you understand what they are experiencing and feeling. Everyone longs to be understood and accepted.

Talking about emotions you experience can be hard enough, but talking to your children about their feelings can be even harder for many people. Some feeling charts are large and have so many different feeling words that it can be overwhelming. Here is a feeling chart that shows eight main emotions and that has a number of other emotions that children frequently experience. Help give your children words for what they are feeling. If you struggle to identify your own emotions, you can use this tool to improve your emotional awareness or vocabulary. It is not uncommon for parents to use the feeling chart for themselves!