USING WORDS TO EXPRESS YOUR CHILD'S FEELINGS
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USING WORDS TO EXPRESS YOUR CHILD'S FEELINGS
Many kids display anger because they simply don't know how to express their frustrations any other way. Kicking, screaming, swearing, hitting or throwing things may be the only way they know how to show their feelings. Asking this kid to "tell me how you feel" is unrealistic, because he may not have learned the words to tell you how he is feeling! To help him express his anger, create a feeling word poster together saying:
"Let's think of all the words we could use that tell others we're really angry" then list his ideas.
Here's a few:
Angry, mad, frustrated, furious, irritated, ticked off, irate, and incensed.
Write them on a chart, hang it up, and practice using them often.
When your child is angry, use the words so he can apply them to real life:
"Looks like you're really angry. Want to talk about it?" or "You seem really irritated. Do you need to walk it off?" Then keep adding new emotion words to the list whenever new ones come up in those great "teachable moments" opportunities throughout the day.
