Welcome back to Term 2

I hope everyone had a chance to rest and celebrate the Easter season with family and friends. This term each class will begin their weekly ‘Wellbeing Check-ins’ using the Pivot surveys discussed in our newsletters last term. Using data collected from our initial survey completed last term by our Yr 3-6 classes we will have a whole school focus on developing resilience skills with our students.

To become more resilient it is important to recognise your own emotions in different situations. The term ‘Emotional literacy’ is described as the ability to understand ourselves and other people, and in particular, to be aware of, understand, and use information about the emotional states of ourselves and others with competence.

Below is some information about helping children to better understand, and regulate, their emotions from the Kids Helpline website.

What you can do to help your child develop their emotional skills

Here are some of the ways you can help your child learn about and express their feelings:

• Tune into cues - Sometimes feelings can be hard to identify. Tune into your child’s feelings by looking at their body language, listening to what they’re saying and observing their behaviour. Figuring out what they feel and why means you can help them identify, express and manage those feelings better.
• Behind every behaviour is a feeling - Try to understand the meaning and feeling behind your child’s behaviour. You can help your child find other ways to express that feeling once you know what is driving the behaviour.
• Name the feeling - Help your child name their feelings by giving them a label. Naming feelings is the first step in helping kids learn to identify them. It allows your child to develop an emotional vocabulary so they can talk about their feelings.
• Identify feelings in others – Provide lots of opportunities to identify feelings in others. You might ask your child to reflect on what someone else may be feeling. Cartoons or picture books are a great way to discuss feelings and help kids learn how to recognise other people’s feelings through facial expressions.
• Be a role model - Kids learn about feelings and how to express them appropriately by watching others. Show your child how you’re feeling about different situations and how you deal with those feelings
• Encourage with praise - Praise your child when they talk about their feelings or express them in an appropriate way. Not only does it show that feelings are normal and it’s ok to talk about them, it reinforces the behaviour so they are likely to repeat it.
• Listen to your child’s feelings - Stay present and resist the urge to make your child’s bad feelings go away. Support your child to identify and express their feelings so they are heard. When feelings are minimised or dismissed, they will often be expressed in unhealthy ways.

Helping your child identify their feelings is the first step in helping them manage them.

Kids who are able to identify, understand, express and manage a wide range of feelings experience long term benefits to their mental health and wellbeing. Sometimes kids don’t have the words to express how they feel and may act out these feelings in ways that are problematic. Your child might hit or throw toys when angry or frustrated. They might have a hard time settling down after an exciting day. Use this as a learning opportunity to teach your child to express their feelings in a positive way. Teach your child to act on feelings by:

• Taking some deep breaths
• Asking for help or support
• Walking away and taking time out
• Finding a different way to do things
• Taking time to relax before trying again
• Trying to solve the problem with words
• Saying what they feel instead of acting it out 
• Talking with a grown-up about what is happening 
• Spending time with a loved one or asking for a hug or cuddle
• Describing what they are feeling or reactions in their body