Heart4kidsadvocacyforum's Blog

Children can have a difficult time navigating through their emotions and if I am being truthful, it is part of our human design to be challenged by dealing with our emotions throughout our life’s journey.  What we have to do as parents and caregivers of children, is to support them and guide them through the incidents that pop up and take them off their balance and control.  We want them to learn to be comfortable and in control of the feelings that run through them.  We don’t want them to be fearful and embarrassed about having a melt down or temper tantrum, feeing emotional of sad.  We want to support them with tools that will aid them in processing through their feelings and find a resolve to what might be overwhelming and unbearable for their age and maturity. 

We taught our children that they have the power and ability to reset the situation. We help them to process what they are experiencing by allowing them to have time and space to express themselves.  Sometimes it takes sitting in the feelings till they can verbally express themselves. Sometimes it means holding them in the embrace of your tender arms and whispering words of love to ease their stress. Sometimes it involves finding alternative ways other than verbally communicating, and we might have to come up with more creative ways for them to sort through their feelings.  I like “gentle reprocessing” which entails art, to bring to light what is transpiring so that words don’t get in the way. 

It will take trying different modalities to find out what resonates with each child.  Sometimes a family can come up with a safe way to process feelings and experiences that impact their emotions that are a clue for everyone to know that they need time, space, and support.  For our family we have the children visualize a “reset button” that is part of their belly button.  When we move through the emotions, we suggest pushing their “reset button”, take a deep breath, exhale, and start a new when they are ready.  Their mind, heart, and soul, have to align in harmony in order to be able to feel a sense of relief and resolve.  Trust me when I say, developing a ritual or modality for shifting through and resolving their emotions and feelings is a gift that will support them throughout their life.