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Valuing Emotional Intensity
January 29, 2008
Hope is a state of mind, not of the world. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but rather an ability to work for something because it is good.
-Vaclav Havel
-Vaclav Havel
"If emotions amplify experience, then strong emotions, whether negative or positive, are like bright beacons showing you the child's inner world. Help staff embrace strong emotions rather than flee from them. For a child, having someone stay emotionally connected, especially during negative emotions, conveys that these strong feelings can be tolerated and survived, by both child and adult. The same is true for staff. Let regular supervision times provide a safe place where staff can recognize the best and the worst of their feelings and capabilities with a partner who helps them get where they need to go."
"Brain Care" is one of the Exchange articles in the "Brain Research Implications for Early Childhood" set up. You can read articles to qualify for a CEU from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. To learn how you can do this, check out Exchange's new CEU program.
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Comments (4)
Displaying All 4 Commentsgreenport, ny, United States
I wholehartedly agree with this approach to helping young children develop secure attachments to the significant adults in their lives as well as resolving conflict. The healing power that naming and accepting a child's strong emotion provides is one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed as an ECE.
Mill Cres Kindergarten
New Zealand
Heartily agree with this article have worked in ece for 28 years and am currrently being given custody of my 3 year old grandson whose mother has Parkinsons and know that children being supported through all their emotions non judgementally is the only way to ensure empathy is taught/caught and positive values skills are learnt to deal with strong emotions or in deed any emotions
Santa Rosa, California, United States
Children's behavior communicates meaning often by the expression of strong emotions. (Adults too!) By naming a child's emotions and helping them find ways to communicate how they are feeling in words, children learn to accept their feelings. This process is an important part in learning self-regulation..to me seems necessary for healthy development.
United States
I agree with this article and find that it is more helpful and healthy to teach children to work through their emotions than to avoid or suppress them. If we teach children when they are young, I think we will have a happier and safer world. Adults would talk things out as oppose to using both verbal/ physcial abuse.
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