CHILDREN'S FEELINGS

(Continuation of Positive Parenting Notes)

You can help your child to put a verbal label on the feeling by asking:

• Did that make you feel ........................ when ...........................?
• Were you feeling ..................................when ...........................?
• It sounds like that made you feel ...............................................?

Some common ways to DISMISS a child's emotions are to:

• offer advice ("You should have...")
• ask why your child did or said that they did
• talk only about yourself
• tell your child not to worry
• jump straight into problem solving
• take the side of the other person (eg. teacher, brother) as opposed to listening to the child's perspective
• offer distractions
• moralise