Emotion regulation, one of the executive functions
Author: Karin, Loes & Iris
Founder of Executive Tools
Definition
The ability to regulate emotions to complete goals and tasks and have control over behavior.
Importance for school
This skill is important at school for social skills and situations. And performing challenging teaching tasks. For example:
-sharing toys.
-playing a game together and having the chance to lose.
-cooperate and consult together. a challenging lesson in which a child must control his frustration.
Tips
-Acknowledge the child's feelings.
-It is good if your child expresses his or her emotions.
- Express your own emotions as an adult.
-Describe how you deal with your own emotions and show this in your behavior as an adult.
-Calm down corner can also be used by adults. If you emotionally don't know what to do anymore, you can calm down there. It is not a punishment corner. 😊As an adult, also give this example, say out loud; I feel very angry, I'm going to calm down in the calm down corner. I can't talk right now. I'll come back to it later. (After 3 minutes you come back to talk about the situation).
-Name what you see in a child when he or she cannot put into words the emotion he or she is experiencing at that moment.
-Don't ask 'Why are you doing this now? Why are you angry?' A why question is always a difficult question (in any situation). Start by naming the emotion you see, then start your question with 'What makes it that....'
-Be predictable and consistent as an adult. Create routines, this provides much more peace and fewer emotional outbursts. Think of fixed times for doing homework or screen use etc.
-If your child regularly has angry outbursts, an emotion meter can help the child to indicate how he or she feels and what he or she needs at that moment. This way your child learns to recognize his or her emotions faster and to anticipate outbursts