1. Drawing Games
If you don’t know how your child is feeling about a certain thing ask them to make a drawing about it. Sometimes it’s easier for kids to draw than to talk about their problems. Make sure to tell your child that they can draw exactly how they feel, that no one will be angry with them about anything, so the child could really express their emotions on the paper. Keep your promise and don’t be angry with your kid no matter what you see on the paper.
Try to talk about the drawing with your child, or draw something back. The whole point is to show your child that they can talk to you about anything and that you will always be there to help them find the solution.
2. Emoticon Memory Cards
Take a couple of pieces of paper or even better, round cardboard plates. Draw two of each emoticon you can think of, a happy face, a sad face, an angry face, a surprised face and so on, then turn the plates over so that you can’t see what’s on them.
Play a simple memory game with your child and these plates. Ask the kid to match two same faces together. If your child can read, you can try matching an emoticon with the emotion – draw a happy face on one plate and a word “happy” on the other, then let them do the connection.
3. Emoticon Guessing Game
This is a good feelings game for your children and you can use the emoticons you’ve already made for the emoticon memory cards game.
Take one emoticon and ask your children when they feel like the face in the drawing. This is a very good way to teach your child the difference between emotions and situations that provoke them. You could also try a vice–versa type, ask your child to pick an emoticon for a story. For example, which face they would pick for the time when mom and dad come back home from work and so on.
You will get a very good insight in how your child comprehends emotions and connects them to everyday life situations with this feelings game and this can greatly help you in future raising of your child.
4. Story Game
You can help your child deal with their emotions by telling them a story. It doesn’t have to be true, but it must not be misleading. For example, if your kid is really angry because a neighbor’s child stole their toy, tell them a story about “Patrick, a boy whose toy was stolen”; the story could be a boy who sat and thought long and hard about what to do. In the end he came up with a solution that it would be best to go over to the child that stole his toy and offer him that the two of them should play together with that toy and be friends. This can work and it will teach your kid that a peaceful solution is the best one.
Use your imagination and come up with a good story. Kids respond well to stories from someone else’s experience and you can deal with a lot of child’s emotions this way.
5. Feeling in a Bubble Game
Whenever your child is experiencing some negative feelings, like anger or sadness you could try a feeling in a bubble game.
Teach your child to say why they are feeling negative and then make a circular movement with your hands, like you’re making a bubble. Ask the child to put the negative emotion into that bubble and walk to the window together. Blow the emotion bubble from your hands. Now, you can tell your kid that there is no reason for them to feel bad anymore, since the feeling bubble is gone.
This is a good game when there is no particular reason why your child is having some negative feelings, but don’t use it if there is a real problem that needs to be worked on.
Children are not easy at all, being a good mother can be the hardest job in the world. So, take whatever form of help that I just gave you. I hope that it helps you finding a way to deal with your child’s emotions.
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