Empowering Parents:
Supporting Your Child's Self-Regulation
You will inevitably encounter challenges as you navigate your child's emotional development. Children under 4 will not always have developed the full range of vocabulary to communicate their emotions. Therefore, challenging behaviour, tantrums, and tears can be common traits as children begin to self-regulate, develop their self-efficacy and autonomy. It is essential for parents to be equipped with practical advice to support their little ones during these times.
In this section, we aim to provide parents with valuable guidance and resources to help them nurture their child's self-regulation skills effectively.
Supporting self-regulation skills
Deep breathing exercises are a fantastic skill for little ones to have in their toolkit. Watch the Alphabreaths video with your child at home and practice these techniques. You can then refer back to them when your child needs it.
Practice Self-Reflection
Children learn their behaviours from the adults around them so it is paramount that we reflect on our own behaviours and how they are being perceived by others.
Take a moment to watch the video below from 'Happy Healthy Little Ones'.
Dealing with tantrums
The NHS has a very useful article and video on Tantrums
Tiny Happy People have a very useful article on 'How should we speak to children about their behaviour?'
Tiny Happy People have an entire section dedicated to childrens' emotional development (link below)
The page is all about how children express and process emotions, from toddler tantrums to childhood fears. Find loads of tips and advice on understanding children's emotional development, behaviour and wellbeing.
Our Supporting Positive Behaviour Policy
Our team model positive behaviours throughout the day and use their experience, intuition and knowledge of the child to either explain, remind, distract or ignore when a experiencing a display of unwanted behaviour.
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Here we have attached a link to our Supporting Positive Behaviour policy which discusses our methodology in further detail.
Key Takeaways
Remember that all behaviours are a form of communication. Seek to understand what your child is trying to communicate.
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Recognise emotional times as an opportunity for intimacy and teaching.
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Set fair limits and stick to those boundaries consistently. Firm and kind.
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Listen empathetically and validate your child's feelings
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Model for your child what to say and how to say it, e.g. “It’s my turn”, “This is frustrating!”, “Help please”.
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Build a vocabulary of ‘emotion words’ by modelling them everyday in the moment e.g. “I spilt my drink; that’s annoying!”, “I’m tired today and it’s making me a bit grumpy.”
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Try naming your child’s emotions in a tentative way, e.g. “You’re pushing. I see Mohammed is playing with Michael now. I
wonder if you’re feeling a bit jealous.”
"The wider the range of possibilities we offer children, the more intense will be their motivations and the richer their experiences"
- Loris Malaguzzi (Reggio Emilia Approach)