Emotions in kinder garden

classes.
Team 3
Emotions in preschoolers.

 Young children’s emotional competence— regulation of emotional expressiveness

and experience when necessary, and knowledge of their own and other’s
emotions—is crucial for social and academic (i.e., school) success.
 Expressing healthy emotions and regulating them, and understanding emotions of
self and other, are essential abilities that lead to successful and satisfactory school
experiences.
Emotional competence
 Emotional competence is one of the most useful things a kid can learn in kinder garden.
 Emotional knowledge: The kid can identify the emotion he or she is feeling (within their
level of knowledge).
 Emotional regulation: includes the abilities to 1) handle emotions productively 2) express
emotions.

 Socialization of emotional competence. (By parents)

 Modeling emotions.
 Reacting to emotions.
 Teaching about emotions.
Teacher Socialization of Emotion
and Emotional Competence

 Early childhood education research does indicate that teachers are likely to engage in
many emotion socialization behaviors previously observed in parents, and to be important
socializers of emotion.

 Socialization of emotional competence. (By parents)

 Modeling emotions.
 Reacting to emotions.
 Teaching about emotions.
 Preschoolers emotions and
play

 What to expect from preschoolers

and emotions

o At 4-5 years, preschoolers will probably:

 At around 3-4 years preschoolers will
probably: o Use words to describe more complex
feelings like frustration, annoyance and
o use words to describe basic feelings like sad,
embarrassment, particularly if you’ve been
happy, angry, etc.
encouraging them to do this.
o feel generous and show that they
o Be better at managing strong emotions like
understand the idea of sharing, but don’t
anger, frustration and disappointment and
expect them to share things all the time.
have fewer tantrums.
 Teaching kids to control
emotions

It's important to begin teaching kids about their emotions as early as

possible since their feelings affect every choice they make.
Kids who understand their emotions are less likely to act out by using
temper tantrums, aggression, and defiance to express themselves.
Teach your preschooler basic feeling words such as happy, mad, sad
and scared. (e.g. discuss how various characters in books or TV shows
may feel, ask “How do you think he feels right now?”)
Talking about other people's feelings also teaches empathy. They need
to learn that other people have feelings to learn that other people have
feelings too.
Reinforce good behavior with a positive consequence. Praise your child
for expressing his emotions in a socially appropriate way: "I really like the
way you used your words when you told your partner you were mad at
her.”
Teaching kids to control
emotions
 Avoid problem situations: Don’t place a child next to someone who
knows how to push his buttons. If a child gets upset with open-ended
assignments, quickly help her get started so she doesn’t have time to feel
frustrated.
 Give the child a plan for handling problem situations. “When you
don’t understand an assignment, I want you to raise your hand and say, ‘I
think I need a little help to get me started on this.'”
 Encourage the child to forgive himself for mistakes: Say to the child,
“It looks like you’re telling yourself that leaving your homework at home is
a disaster. Maybe you could tell yourself, ‘Oops — forgot that homework
assignment. What can I do to remember to bring it tomorrow?'”
 Create a 5-point scale to help the child gauge how upset she
is: Help her make a coping strategy for each step on the scale.
 Give praise. Notice when a child shows good emotional control. You
could say, “I saw how angry you were, but you kept your cool. Nice job.”