raising the emotional child

i am a huge fan of mommy blogger, ellie juarez. i always find something interesting to look at on her blog "i am madre" where she covers topics from children's fashion to parenting.  so naturally, i'm thrilled to post a blog she wrote for us about raising emotionally intelligent kiddos.  much of what ellie writes resonates with me.  as the adage go, "it takes a village".... and i find that village can also include like-minded mommies who give sound advice and/or reinforce what we believe is best for our children.  read on to discover ellie's thoughts on raising the emotional child...

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most parents of the past raised children to succeed externally where a child is great at something, mostly sports or getting good grades. many of us were not raised to identify and process emotions in a healthy way. fortunately, so much has changed over the years and parents are realizing that the way in which we deal with our emotions is imperative to living a fulfilling and joyful life.

how we deal with our emotions is learned in childhood and has so much to do with how we are raised and taught to react when we are young. below are a few steps to help our children process their emotions effectively.

no emotion is wrong. having a cracker taken away by another kid in school at snack time doesn’t seem like a huge deal to us as adults but as a child, it could be devastating. one of the worst things we can do as adults is deny our children the right to feel what they are feeling in the moment. let your child feel the emotion of the situation, they will be able to identify and embrace their feelings.

raise your child to understand rather than blame. understanding why someone does something is an art to be learned and can help with confidence and compassion over time.

be present.  our children want to know we are there for them however, they may not need us to ‘fix’ everything for them all of the time. it’s hard to see your child deal with harsh emotions but learning to process their pain in a healthy manner will help them deal with those emotions as adults.

communicate.  when a child gets upset try to help them try to figure out why they are feeling the emotions they are feeling. identifying the trigger can be hard but discussing it is half the battle in helping them to understand.

thank you again ellie for your insight!  follow ellie on instagram @everwillalove

xx, j