Wellbeing 

Wellbeing 6.0

As we go through another round of remote learning it’s important to acknowledge and understand the variety of feelings, we, and your child/ren are experiencing.

The ability to understand and manage your emotions, as well as the emotions around you is called Emotional Intelligence. This ability is learned and developed throughout our lives. It takes a lot of time and practice! Using this ability helps us communicate how we are feeling and move forward with others through tough situations.

A particularly important part of Emotional Intelligence is accepting that negative emotions – such as sadness, anxiety and anger – are natural and an important part of everyday life. Negative emotions give us clues about what is going on inside of us or around us.

When appropriate, it’s important to be patient and accepting of children’s difficult emotions, letting them know they will pass. When we try to quash or suppress emotions, it often has the opposite effect – we actually tend to experience the negative emotions for longer! When we regularly suppress negative emotions, it can also flatten or dull the experience of all emotions, both positive and negative.

Tuning into your child’s emotions by saying things like ‘I can see you are feeling frustrated by what has happened’ helps them develop awareness into how events, emotions and thoughts are connected.

Try this at home: When a challenging event comes up, talk to your children about how this event made you feel.  Maybe it’s a sad story you read. Discuss the thoughts and emotions you experienced, what you did or plan to do to manage these big feelings and what you might do next. Encourage them to share their feelings too.

I hope you’re all coping during this tricky time. Remember to reach out and talk to someone if you need to. 

Ms J Gardiner

Have a great week

The Wellbeing Team