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Emotional Literacy: 3 Ways to Help Your Child Express Feelings! by Mercedes Samudio

Parenting

January 09, 2017

Emotional Literacy: 3 Ways to Help Your Child Express Feelings!

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Emotional literacy is a child's ability to understand and express feelings. Here are my top three tips for helping your child build emotional literacy!

Build a feelings vocabulary: There are so many great resources for learning feelings words, from cards to books to movies. Use fun ways to teach your child words that go beyond happy, sad or mad!
Ask about your child's feelings: Go past questions like, "How was your day?" Instead, ask specific questions about your child's life such as, "How did that history test go?" or "What happened when you talked to you teacher today?"
Be a model: Show your child that it's normal to have a range of emotions by sharing what you feel in your daily life. For example, "I felt worried that I'd be late to picking you up when I got into traffic." This normalized experiencing feelings for your child.

These great products from Amazon.com can help you build your child's emotional literacy:

30Second Mobile, Inc. is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Related Products on Amazon We Think You May Like:

Todd Parr Feelings Flash Cards $12.50

Feeling Flashcards Drawn By Jim Borgman-Pulitzer Prize Winner by Time Promotions $14

The Feelings Book $5

Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day $10

The Way I Feel $11

Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood: Daniel's Big Feelings DVD $7

Ruby's Studio: The Feelings Show DVD $13

Feelings & Faces $14

Cheryl Leahy

Jamie Lee Curtis wrote a great book that I read to my kids entitled "Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day"- such a wonderful way to connect with our kids!

Like Reply 4 9 years ago

Elisa Schmitz

YES, Cheryl Leahy - I remember that book and my kids loved it, too! Thanks for suggesting that! Donna John - can we add that to this great list of resources? Thank you Mercedes Samudio for the great tip!

Like Reply 2 9 years ago

Oh I love that book! So fun! I think I need to get it for a few of my awesome parents who are managing toddlers right now! :)

Donna John

I love that book, Cheryl Leahy! Thanks for the suggestion! And agreed, Elisa All Schmitz 30SecondMom, this is a great tip for parents (grandparent's, too!).

Like Reply 3 9 years ago

Thanks Donna John for the kind words! Glad you enjoyed the tip!

Erica Hornthal

This is great! Very much inline with dance/movement therapy. We have to teach our children to share and express emotions. Modeling is often the hardest to do, but so necessary.

Erica Hornthal Oh! I love that! I used to dance and still dance around the house to release stress after a long day! Do you do dance/movement therapy?

Yes. I'm a dance therapist based in Chicago.:-)

Mike Prochaska

Truth

Like Reply 2 8 years ago

Thanks for reading!

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