Raising children is not only a fulfilling and rewarding experience in itself but also one that is quite challenging – especially when we see our kids having temper tantrums, mood swings, and getting upset over the smallest things. Sometimes, these situations can leave us feeling frustrated, guilty, and shameful when we don’t handle them well. We wish our child would just remain calm all the time and respond positively in the face of disappointing situations but could that even be possible? Fortunately, our guest knows a thing or two on how to regulate our child’s emotions and regulating our own emotions as parents as well. In this Chatabout Children episode, our guest Julia Pappas,  introduces us to the topic of emotional development. She shares why it is so important, and how we can help our children develop this valuable skill throughout life (without becoming an emotional mess).

We start by defining emotions and the four core emotions she wants all parents to understand. We look at how social-emotional development develops from birth to toddler years to up until our child enters school. The three pillars of appropriate emotional development are ‘You’re ok, your needs are ok and your emotions are ok’ says Julia. As the adult care-taker, we need to have the self-awareness and emotional maturity to reinforce these pillars. 

We also discuss parent guilt when we are not able to regulate our own emotions and tips on how to respond to our child having a tantrum - Make sure we are ready. Show up fully regulated ourselves. Recognize that the tantrum is an escalation of our child’s emotions because their need was not met. ‘When an adult is fine with whatever the child is feeling, then the child will be as well.’  Says Julia. 

So sit back and enjoy this episode of the Chatabout Children Podcast with Sonia Bestulic as she interviews Julia Pappas.

Links:

Chatabout Children

Julia’s website

The Parenting Presence podcast