Acknowledging Negative Feelings Of Children Essay

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Acknowledging Negative Feelings of Children
To begin with, we must emphasize that not all feelings or situations require utmost acknowledgment and consideration. In this article, we are addressing strong negative feelings like great sadness, anger, compulsion, anxiety, fear, disappointment, jealousy…etc
What we mean by acknowledgment of feelings is to understand the experience that the child is going through… and to try to put ourselves in the child’s shoes…It is not necessary that we agree with the child nor that we tell him\ \her that we understand what they go through or that they have the right to feel the way they do.
For the convenience of the reader, we will present this skill in simple steps:
1. Totally avoid denying the feelings of the child, i.e. saying things like:” This does not hurt. Stop crying. It does not matter if your toy is broken. Do not worry. Do not be scared.”
2. Come close to the child and make sure that your eyes and those of the child are on the same level, i.e. squat down so that you are face to face with the child.
3. Try to realize what the …show more content…

After saying so, the mother must follow the situation up, based on the reaction of the child. If the child replied:”Yes. He has made me angry” and then was silent, the mother can say “Aha, umm or okay.” After that, she should give the child a chance to speak… She may add “He must have done something that drove you crazy.” (Notice that we are still focusing on feelings only.)
It is noticed that the skill of acknowledging feelings is not an easy one. It needs training, practice and persistence. However, as I have said, you do not need it in every situation. Whether or not we need to use this skill depends on what the child is going through…Sometimes what an angry child needs- especially if he\she was less than 5- is to pour their heart out by telling parents what has happened. Parents must listen attentively, after that the child will be off to play again and then the problem will come to an

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