| Helping Children To Regulate Their Emotions Will Help Them with Peer Interactions, and School and Lifelong Success |
Emotional Regulation is a Key Component to Social Success
We are social beings. Our waking hours are spent connected to others. Our social-emotional journey begins at birth and develops and matures as the child encounters new experiences and challenges throughout his lifespan.
Children present with different temperaments. Some are generally content and go with the flow pretty easily. While others may be considered to have a more "difficult" temperament. They may get upset more easily and take longer to calm down. They often display stronger emotions when they are unable to verbally communicate their feelings. First and foremost, parents should rule out any medical issues which may be contributing to regulation difficulties and seek to eliminate or minimize the causes if present. Additionally, parents and caregivers can help children regulate their emotional reactions to non-medical sensory hyper-sensitivities like temperature, lights, sounds, or touch and reactions to unwelcomed changes in schedules.
According to Thomas and Chess, "Goodness of Fit" is an important reciprocal dance between caregiver and child. The caregiver reads the signs and signals given by the child, and in a caring and respectful way, helps the child adapt to his environment. Sensory sensitivities and reactions to change can be regulated over time with increasingly small steps of exposure connected to or associated with the success of their ability to handle the experience.
The Goldilocks Rule Can Help Children To Learn Emotional Regulation
Eliminating exposure to disliked stimuli= TOO EASY to avoid things they don't like which may not be realistic for a long-term developmental plan.
Exposure without easing into it= TOO HARSH to learn to adjust to the stimuli
Exposure brought down to a low manageable level with increasing tolerance levels as the child builds success= JUST RIGHT
*Preparing a child about what to expect ahead of time, labeling the stimuli or their feelings associated with stimuli, and praising their efforts to regulate will help support a child's social-emotional success.
