We are all born with emotions, but not all those emotions are pre-wired into our brains. Children are born with emotional reactions such as crying, frustration, hunger, and pain. As they grow older, however, they also learn about other emotions.

There is no consensus about the emotions that are in-built versus those learned from emotional, social, and cultural contexts. It is widely accepted, however, that the eight primary in-built emotions are anger, sadness, fear, joy, interest, surprise, disgust, and shame. These are reflected in different variations. For instance, resentment and violence often stem from anger, and anxiety is often associated with fear.

Secondary emotions are always linked to these eight primary emotions and reflect our emotional reaction to specific feelings. These emotions are learned from our experiences. For example, a child who has been punished because of a meltdown might feel anxious the next time she gets angry. A child who has been ridiculed for expressing fear might feel shame the next time he gets scared.

In other words, how we react to our child’s emotions has an impact on the development of their emotional intelligence.

Emotional invalidation prevents children from learning how to manage their emotions. When we teach children to identify their emotions, we give them a framework that helps explain how they feel, which makes it easier for them to deal with those emotions in a socially appropriate way. The emotions children experience will vary depending on age.

Infants are essentially guided by emotions pre-wired into their brains. For instance, cries are usually an attempt to avoid unpleasant stimuli or to move towards pleasant stimuli (food, touch, hugs).

Evidence suggests that, in the first six months, infants can experience and respond to distress by adopting self-soothing behaviour such as sucking. Other studies have found that toddlers develop self-regulation skills in infancy and are able to approach or avoid situations depending on their emotional impact.

How can you help your infant? A recent study suggests that “listening to recordings of play songs can maintain six to nine-month-old infants in a relatively contented or neutral state considerably longer than recordings of infant-directed or adult-directed speech.”

The study explains that multimodal singing is more effective than maternal speech for calming highly aroused 10-month-old infants. It also suggests that play songs (“Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” for instance) are more effective than lullabies at reducing distress.

By the time they turn one, infants gain an awareness that parents can help them regulate their emotions.

As they grow out of the infancy stage, toddlers begin to understand that certain emotions are associated with certain situations. Several studies suggest that fear is the most difficult emotion for toddlers. At this age, parents can begin using age-appropriate approaches to talk to kids about emotions and encourage them to name those emotions.

By the time they turn two, kids can adopt strategies to deal with difficult emotions. For instance, they can distance themselves from the things that upset them.

How can you help your toddler? Situation selection, modification, and distraction are the best strategies to help toddlers deal with anger and fear at this age, according to one study. In other words, helping toddlers avoid distressing situations or distracting them from those situations is one of the most effective emotion-regulation strategies.

As they grow older, toddlers can be taught to handle those situations by themselves. Indeed, they can understand different emotions and of learning different self-regulation methods that can help them deal with difficult situations. Providing toddlers with an appropriate framework can help them learn how to manage those emotions by themselves.

Naming emotions also helps toddlers learn that emotions are normal. Everyday opportunities provide occasions to talk to kids about emotions: “He sure looks angry.” “Why do you think he looks so sad? What could have happened to him today?” Toddlers also learn about managing their emotions by watching us.

Kids experience many emotions during the childhood years. Many secondary emotions come into play at this age as a child’s emotions are either validated or invalidated, influencing future emotional reactions.

Children can understand and differentiate appropriate from inappropriate emotional expressions, but they still find it hard to express their emotions, especially if they have not learned to identify and name them.

How can you help your child? Emotion regulation is not just about expressing emotions in a socially appropriate manner. It is a three-phase process that involves teaching children to identify emotions, helping them identify what triggers those emotions, and teaching them to manage those emotions by themselves. When we teach children that their emotions are valid, we help them view what they feel as normal and (best of all) manageable.

Modelling appropriate behaviour is also important during the childhood years. The best way to teach your child to react to anger appropriately is to show them how. Evidence suggests that kids pick up our emotions, and that those exposed to many negative emotions are more likely to struggle.

Ultimately, helping kids manage their emotions begins by validating those emotions and providing an environment in which they feel safe to express them. As several studies have shown, kids who feel safe are more likely to develop and use appropriate emotion regulation skills to deal with difficult feelings. This year, I invite you to practice emotional regulation, model emotional regulation to your child & provide your child with the solid emotional framework that will hold them in good stead from infancy into adulthood.

If you think you may need support with this, please talk to the teaching staff at the school, and consider making a referral to the psychological services team.

Carly Dober - School Psychologist