This week, I have lost count of the number of conversations I have had about feelings, and the importance of feeling them and experiencing them. Your feelings are a communication system, telling you that you have needs that require some attention. If you are stressed you are overloaded, taking on too much, or trying to […]
Why we need to feel our feelings Read More »
When it comes to feelings, there are two routes that we can take: In the reverse to a first aid situation, when we cannot see someone’s expression of feelings this is a warning sign that a child or young person needs support. When we can see a child’s behaviours or hear their expressed words, this
4 ways to support children to externalise their feelings Read More »
Identifying that our feelings are fluid, and ever moving supports children to understand that they do not need to always feel ‘happy’. For so many children and adults, there is a pressure to always be ‘happy’, when in reality our feelings move continually throughout the day. Learning to differentiate between different feelings is an important
Children’s Activity: Feelings Colouring Read More »
Glimmers have become more popular over the last few years, and we often see social media posts talking about them. So, what is a glimmer and a glow? Glimmers Glimmers are micro-moments of pleasure that we experience in the day. These small moments, when we give them attention, provide us with calm, peace and connection.
Why we need Glimmers and Glows Read More »
Learning to calm our mind when we feel anxious or overwhelmed, allows us to move from our amygdala (fight/flight/freeze/fawn) into our prefrontal cortex (logic/reasoning/regulation). Often, we can catch ourselves asking children hundreds of questions about ‘what is wrong?’ ‘what is the matter?’ ‘how do you feel?’ and notice their anxiety escalating as we draw more
Children’s Activity: Calm your mind Read More »
Feelings A step of emotional literacy development is being able to recognise what our emotions are. Many children can find it challenging to be able to recognise, identify and respond to their emotions, particularly the more subtle feelings. A great first step, is to encourage children to reflect on their feelings, so that they can
Children’s Activity: Find the feelings Read More »
How do you feel? We often ask children how they feel, however many children have a small stock of responses that they can give us. Something we can commonly see, is the difficulty pulling apart the differences. Such as, the difference between sad and bored, excited and anxious, happy and content. Many feel that they
Children’s Activity: When I feel… Read More »
Empathy It is thought that children develop empathy around 2 years old. At this stage, children begin to show an understanding of how other people feel and recognise that they don’t feel the same way themselves. However, empathy continues to develop throughout life and as children’s brains continue to develop until around 25 years old,
Children’s Activities: Monster Feelings Read More »
Sometimes, we can all get caught in spirals of thoughts surrounding things that are not in our control. So, how do we support children to begin conversations about what they are in control of, versus what they are not? Anxiety frequently exists where we attempt to control things that are uncontrollable. Ever noticed that we
Children’s Activity: What can I control? Read More »
Since the 2020 pandemic, there has been an increasing gap in the emotional literacy of children. One of my greatest observations from the last three years in my therapy and coaching work, is that whilst children are catching up academically: Behaviour issues are increasing Dysregulation is happening more frequently Expressing feelings is less comfortable There
What’s the emotional literacy gap? Read More »
