FeelLinks Blog

As parents, caregivers, and teachers, it’s natural to want to shield children from anything that feels scary to them. However, feelings of fear are a normal part of childhood development, and learning to cope with fear is an essential lifeskill - fear is valid and normal to us all.

Children are often seen as resilient - capable of bouncing back after setbacks with ease. However, this perception can lead adults to being dismissive or downplay children's emotions. It's critical to recognize that children experience a wide range of emotions just like adults, and these emotions play a crucial role in their development and well-being.

There is a close connection between mental health and emotional intelligence skills. I will highlight the impact in which  understanding and managing our own emotions, and the emotions of others, greatly contribute to our overall mental well-being.

It's best to begin teaching our children self-care from an early age. This will foster greater self-awareness about their own physical, mental, and emotional needs. We should be teaching and encouraging our children to use healthy coping strategies in hopes they will use them throughout childhood, adolescence, and carry them through adulthood.

Parents, caretakers, educators, anyone with children in their lives, this is a must read on how to fill and refill the emotional cup of a child. What fills their cup? What empties their cup? How do we teach children to advocate appropriately for an emotional cup refill?

Understanding emotional intelligence is important for all parents and caretakers. What is it? Why is it important? How can we teach it to our children? Knowledge is power!

We should all do our best to create a supportive environment where our children are free to verbalize, process, and express all emotions.

We need to listen to our children and avoid constantly swooping in to be the “fixer” or be the “dismisser” (not a real word, but it sounds good).  Here are four things you can do show your child you are present, supportive and attentive!

Will the summer expectations for your children look the same as a typical summer? Or will there be some changes in the "normal" summer routines and schedules in your home?

Tuning in to our child's underlying emotions can help parents better understand their outward behaviors. Take a closer look at how to be more OPEN with this practice.

As parents, we teach our children to apologize to siblings, parents and friends when they have hurt them in some way. Parents, when you make a mistake, do you apologize to your child or do you resist doing so? Today I discuss why it is important to model the same behavior we are expecting from our children - and apologizing is one of them.

"Name it to tame it" was coined by Dr. Daniel Siegel. When we are experiencing heightened emotions, naming our feelings calms our emotional response. Teaching our children to accurately understand and label their feelings are the first steps in supporting them to be better problem solvers.

Not taking "things" in life for granted, means finding and expressing gratitude and appreciation for them. My child's thoughtful, "aha moment", is a beautiful reminder for us all to practice gratitude and be sure to teach it to our children.