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Teaching Preschoolers to Handle Big Emotions

Teaching Preschoolers to Handle Big Emotions at Kids 'R' Kids Fort Mill, preschool, daycare, childcare

All parents of preschoolers have seen it—BIG emotions—exuding from their young child. If that is not stressful enough, parents are also tasked with teaching their preschooler how to handle the big emotions! Where does a parent even begin?! Afterall, this topic of handling big emotions was hardly dealt with when the current parents of preschoolers were children. Here are a couple of ideas to keep in mind for teaching your preschooler to handle big emotions. 

  • Do not try to teach them in the “heat of the moment.” When they are at their heightened emotion, a preschooler will not be able to listen to or remember anything you said.
  • Once they are calm, you can then talk through what happened and help them think through what could have been a better choice when they became mad, hurt, scared…fill in the blank. 
  • Ask them to share ideas with you about what makes them happy and calm. 
  • Then, either draw these ideas (from the previous point), or you can use clipart, and put all the ideas on one sheet of paper. Hang it somewhere your child can easily find it. 
  • Teach them that these pictures are ideas they can choose to do when they get mad, frustrated, etc., instead of doing something inappropriate with their big emotional response. 
  • Proactively use these pictures, long before your preschooler gets upset or angered by something. Teach these calming strategies over and over.
  • As the parent, make it a practice to take noticeable deep breaths when you are upset or frustrated. This serves a two-fold purpose of helping you remain calm and also to show a valuable example to your child.

Try to not get discouraged. There is a long road ahead to teach your child how to handle big emotions. Take it one day at a time, knowing the journey is long, but worth it. 

If you enjoyed this blog, please take a look at our school’s blog page. There you will find blogs on a wide variety of topics that we believe will be beneficial to you and your family.

Want to learn more about Kids ‘R’ Kids Learning Academy of Fort Mill located in Fort Mill, South Carolina? Our mission is to provide secure, nurturing, and educational environments for children ages 6 weeks – 12 years. We help children to bloom into responsible, considerate, and contributing members of society. For more information, give us a call or stop by for a tour! We’d love to get to know you and your family.