So as you may know, we are dealing with a “threenager”! He most definitely has been having his moments – or should I say tantrums! With that being said we have been trying our hardest in working through each episode. It means that we have not been as active in visiting family and friends so that we can work on these situations in our own house before placing ourselves in situations where we have much more going on.

So how do we teach our children about our emotions? We talk everything through. Although we may not think they understand, they understand a lot more than what we give them credit for. From biting, to hitting, to full on tantrums, we have to understand that these are all caused by them not being able to process their emotions or deal with them.

Sometimes, these emotions are over very “little” things and to us as adults, we may think it is cute – or funny – and irrelevant – but be rest assured that “these” things to our little ones may be the end of the world. So when these “little” things happen and their world comes crashing down, we still need to work with them in dealing with these emotions as it will only allow them to be handle to bigger problems later on in life.

1. Take a moment to take a deep breath.

Guide your child to stop and take a moment, stop crying, relax – woosah!

2. Talk through the emotions and how to deal with it.

Talk with your child on how by crying, biting, hitting is not solving the problem and establish boundaries for what they are wanting or needing.

3. Take action to rectify the problems.

Guide your child that by positive behavior, they are able to get or obtain the results that they want.

4. Don’t just focus on the bad.

With this being said, when your child is happy, excited, surprised, or any other positive emotion be sure to talk about it just as much as those emotions we all do not like.

5. Use non-verbal ways of expressing our emotions. 

This is something that you can do with your child outside of a specific situation, where you can use musical instruments around the house to match the emotion with the noise. You can also talk about how movies use music to make you feel happy, sad, scared, etc.

There are many occasions that we may be too busy or frustrated with the situation that we almost suppress these emotions. By suppressing these emotions, you may think that for “today” we do not have to deal with these tantrums or these uncomfortable situations, but this will only lead to our child growing up and not being able to handle “real life” situations and their emotions.

So on to another day as this is all we can do for now! But just like you and me, there are days that our emotions can determine what we do and how we do it. If we can work with our children to deal with these emotions we are only setting them up to be able to tackle everything life is going to throw their way.

Love Clarissa