How to Assist Your Distressed Child

Want to help your child be more resilient, achieve greater academic success, be physically healthier, and have improved relationships with family and friends?

Then help develop and increase your child’s Emotional Intelligence. Studies have shown that our Emotional Intelligence can be equally important to our success and performance as Intellectual Intelligence.

One of the ways to help children master their emotions, and learn to calm themselves,  is for parents to learn to be an Emotion Coach for their child.

Here are the steps to take when your child is experiencing upsetting or distressing feelings:

1.Become aware of your child’s feelings.

2.Recognize the emotion as a chance to grow closer to your child and as a teaching moment.

3.Listen empathetically to your child, validating his or her feelings.

4.Help your child find the words to label the emotion he or she is experiencing.

5.Set limits while exploring strategies to find a solution to the problem.

John Gottman explores these valuable steps for parents in greater detail in his book, Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child.