Wellbeing

Emotional Literacy

Emotional awareness helps us know what we need and want (or don't want!). It helps us build better relationships. That's because being aware of our emotions can help us talk about feelings more clearly, avoid or resolve conflicts better, and move past uncomfortable feelings more easily. Sometimes it is not easy to articulate our emotions.

Attached below is a document that has 3 different diagrams. They highlight a wide variety of both comfortable and uncomfortable emotions. This is a great tool to help children identify how they are feeling when they are in a heightened emotional state.

Emotional literacy is important. It gives us the ability to recognise, understand and appropriately express emotions. Learning to recognise and identify emotions and how to respond to the feelings of others is a core part of a child’s social development. This is the foundation for developing friendships.

Research has shown that compared to children who are unable to understand, identify, and respond to their emotions or the emotions of others, those who are emotionally literate tend to:

• Have greater academic achievement
• Fight less
• Cope well with stress and negative emotions
• Focus better on tasks and control their internal impulses
• Form healthier relationships with others

Some ways to build and strengthen your child’s emotional literacy are to:

• Be a positive role model of what you would like your child to do
• Name feelings with your child and refer to them regularly
• Talk to children about your own feelings
• Read stories about being a friend, happy feelings, sad feelings, problem solving, self-confidence, etc.
• Talk about things other people do and how they might feel
• Build up a language of pro-social behaviour by talking about taking turns, sharing, helping, looking after others, etc.

Below is a link from the Queensland government which has a wide variety of books about different concepts ranging from emotions and building friendships to dealing with grief and sadness. A lot of these books can be found in local libraries or online via platforms such as YouTube.

https://earlychildhood.qld.gov.au/earlyYears/Documents/childrens-booklist.pdf

By developing early emotional literacy skills, children can become better equipped to navigate the challenges of growing up and eventually become emotionally resilient adults. In addition, giving them the tools they need to support their emotional development helps them expand their self-awareness and develop empathy, better mental health, and positive behaviour and relationships, which are crucial skills for success in life.