The emotional development of the baby begins from birth. From that moment the parents will learn to recognize his emotions and will be responsible for his growth. This role you can will be continued in part by educators and teachers as children grow up.A child who cries out of sadness or fear wants nothing more than to be comforted. The love and embrace of parents at this stage of life are truly important tools for reassuring children. We also realize this as adults. When we suffer, we feel that within us there is an inner child who would only like to be embraced and understood .
So parents or those who take care of children more closely become a sort of “container” for the emotions of the child and can help them live them better. There is an important premise to be made. There are no emotions that are positive or negative in themselves.
Let’s consider, for example, fear , one of the emotions that children experience the most, especially when they begin the detachment phase from the mother to start acquiring their autonomy (let’s think, hypothetically, of children who start attending kindergarten and which are in the insertion phase).
We would be led to consider fear as a negative emotion, but in reality it is not so. Fear, like all strong emotions, must be recognized and managed. Thanks to parents, children can learn to recognize fear and understand how to use it to their advantage. Fear is in fact to be considered positive when it protects us from dangers and helps us to get away from a risky situation. If the children didn’t start to feel fear they would end up hurting themselves. Instead, over time they will understand how to recognize dangerous situations, how to defend themselves and how to face difficulties.
The main tools to help children in this regard are understanding and love. The bond between parents and children in a completely natural way is unconditional and does not ask for anything in return (although often in life it can be a difficult feeling to manage).
A healthy emotional development of the children depends precisely on the parents, who will be able to come into play by tackling the problems of each day with peace of mind and through dialogue. When necessary, however, parents can and must be strict: it is part of their role to make the child understand that there are limits and to make sure that his emotions do not become too violent in their expression.
Children will learn to recognize moments of calm and serenity through the parents’ smile . In this way the smile becomes an important tool, for example to restore peace after a quarrel.Teaching children to manage their emotions is very important and can take place through play. In this case the game will be an opportunity to learn to listen to yourself and others. For children, the game is not a simple fun activity but a real learning tool.
Relaxation games that allow you to lie down or sit quietly to listen to your own breathing are particularly suitable for children . Children also love listening to fairy tales . Fairy tales and stories are an opportunity to tell emotions in a creative way. In many children’s stories there are emotions like sadness or fear. So here is one more reason to choose reading fairy tales out loud as a moment to learn how to express these emotions.
