Navigating emotions

HAPPY FRIDAY EVERYONE!

 I'm sorry I haven't been very active on here lately. I love my blog but I love my busy life even more! Lately I have been focusing on teaching my group of kids and son how to identify their emotions and keep calm during upsetting times. In a past post or two I wrote about my son getting upset and how I planned to handle it. In that case I previously wrote about, he was showing lots of empathy but in general my son gets frustrated both with others and himself very easily. I decided I wanted to take more control and help my son. What I learned was the best thing I think I can do for my son (and his friends ) is help them feel some control too. I actually need to relax more and let go of the control I wanted. I am the boss but how many of us end up feeling so drained at the end of a day because of all the repeating and demanding of respect from the kids? I decided, for sure parents and other adult figures need to be respected by their children but we may not get that too much if we start to turn red and get upset....the exact thing we don't want our children to do. Ever hear the expression "Monkey see Monkey do" ? Well, with some common sense we can all agree, our kids are going to grow up doing more of what we DID rather than what we SAY, am I right? Not always the case but usually that's what ends up happening.

Disciplining is not a treat for me. I don't like harping on them all the time but it comes with the job. Both from working with children and being a mother. It is our responsibility to them to help them learn and grow into good people as they get older. I talk about discipline with emotions because sometimes when an emotion can become too much for a young child, they can become rude and unpleasant for others to be around. What I am telling my son is, its ok to feel mad. It is ok for them to feel however they want to feel but it is never ok to make someone else who isn't hurting you, feel bad or stop someone else from enjoying their time.

Here are some books I ordered from scholastic to help my son and his friends navigate a little easier through their emotions. Some have a happy ending and others end leaving you on a bit of a cliff hanger but giving you something to discuss with your child.