Emotional Development

After age two, children talk about feelings more frequently. This is because language and
cognition are more developed so children can put their feelings into words. Preschoolers at age
three and four, verbalize their emotions as a self-regulation strategy (Berk, 2013). They may
restrict their sensory input by covering their eyes or ears to block out sights or sound as a way to
blunt their emotions (Berk, 2013). They may also change their goals such as decide they do not
want a toy after another child is unwilling to give it up.

Tips to Promote Emotional Self-Regulation

• Adults should model how to handle their own feelings and how to respond to other
people’s feelings
• Adults should have conversations with children in order to prepare them for difficult
experiences. An example of this is when a child is getting ready to go to a new school or
is expecting a new baby sibling
• Have children focus on something else in order to shift their attention away from the
thing that is frustrating them
• Explain to children why things may be happening or if plans change. For example, the
child may be looking forward to getting ice cream, but the ice cream place is closed.
Explain to them what happened and why they are unable to get ice cream today. Make
plans to get ice cream another day and follow through

Behavioral Strategies
• Adopt a feelings chart- This is a chart that a child uses to represent
their emotions. They get to identify their feelings in order to help
manage them and talk about their emotions. This chart would be used
as a communication tool
• Positive guidance- If a child attempts to verbalize their feelings or
refrains from tantrums or physical force when upset, make sure to
praise them and tell them why they did such a great job talking about
their emotions. If they are struggling, make sure to listen and help
them verbalize their emotions if necessary

Conclusion
When children are able to understand and are aware of their own emotions, they will be able to
better understand other people’s emotions and view different perspectives. Perspective-taking
helps to develop empathy because children will be able to understand why other people may
have certain emotions (Rymanowicz, 2017). When children are able to develop empathy, other
children will want to play with them more since they are able
to understand each other’s emotions and sympathize if
someone is sad, angry, or hurt. This helps develop into
prosocial behavior like sharing or helping others. Developing
children’s self-regulation skills is very important for
developing future skills that will help them succeed.

References:
Berk, L. E. (2013). Child development. (9th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Retrieved
from https://content.ashford.edu/
Rymanowicz, K. (2017, April 17). Children and empathy: Self-regulation skills. Retrieved from
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/children_and_empathy_self-regulation_skills