Understanding Feelings

Emotional awareness is an important part of ICPS training, we introduce feeling words and talk about times when those feelings might emerge. You can reinforce your child's learning by honoring and accepting her feelings even when you might need to limit her behaviors. Try to avoid isolating a child who is having strong feelings, instead comfort your child and help her to put her feelings into words by encouraging the use of labels like happy, sad, proud, angry, excited, worried, relieved, etc.

One exercise is to find a picture in a magazine and invite your child to look at it and tell you what is happening. Ask your child: "How do you think each person in the picture might be feeling?" Ask: "How can you tell?"

Perhaps you remember a time when you tried hard to do something challenging (like roller skating). Share your story with your child and invite her to tall you about a time when she had trouble doing something she really wanted to accomplish.