What To Do (and Not Do) When Kids Have Meltdowns, Tantrums, Strong Emotions
Mar 14, 2023
24:37
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Quick takeaways
Encouraging children to express and process emotions during meltdowns is crucial for emotional development.
Maintaining honesty and empathy towards children's emotional responses is key to preserving trust.
Deep dives
Helping Children Manage Emotions
Encouraging children to express and process their feelings during times of distress, tantrums, or meltdowns is crucial for their emotional development. Rather than overwhelming them with excessive attention, providing a supportive yet relatively normal environment while acknowledging their emotions can help build resilience and trust in handling emotional ups and downs.
Responding to Different Developmental Levels
Adapting caregiving approaches based on children's age and emotional needs is essential. Avoiding overreaction to children's crying and instead allowing them to experience and navigate their emotions naturally fosters healthy emotional growth. Resisting the urge to immediately suppress emotions with calming techniques can promote authentic emotional expression and processing.
Building Trust During Challenging Situations
In situations requiring painful procedures, such as in pediatric emergency rooms, maintaining honesty and empathy towards children's emotional responses is key to preserving trust. Validating their feelings in the moment, without trying to prematurely alleviate their discomfort, can enhance their trust in caregivers and promote emotional resilience. By providing a safe space for emotional expression, caregivers can support children through difficult experiences while reinforcing trust and emotional well-being.
What do children need from us when they're experiencing intense feelings? What are the best things to say and do to calm their emotional storms? Janet responds to notes from three insightful professionals who express concerns that what they're doing isn't working. Janet validates their perspectives and explains why. Then she offers specific recommendations for navigating children's outbursts in a manner that fosters their resilience and a healthy attitude toward emotions while also nurturing trusting relationships.