Children’s Mental Health & Parenting
What are socioemotional skills, and why are they important?
Socioemotional skills are the foundational building blocks for your child to connect with others. These skills are built through recognizing emotions, communicating their feelings and needs, active listening skills, and taking alternative perspectives. Children learn these skills through observation, practice, and teaching guidance from helpful adults in their life.
How can I help my child build emotional awareness?
Encourage labeling and identifying different emotion words with your child through observing their behavior and ask what feeling they may be having
Practice different emotion faces with each other and make it a guessing game
Make it a daily routine to ask your child how they are feeling after different activities or interactions they engage in
Read books about different emotions
Practice mindfulness moments and coping skills (such as deep breathing, take a cool water break, count to ten, or practice rainbow grounding)
How can play help?
Allow emotional expression through play
children reflect and process their feelings and interactions they see or engage in through their play
Approach displayed emotions of the characters in their play with curiosity
ask your child what that character can do with their big emotions
Create a safe environment for your child if they display healthy aggression through play
provide alternative options for your child to know safe and unsafe behaviors when playing out anger or destruction
Set firm and age appropriate boundaries to help your child
this helps them know what is appropriate in playing with others their age
