Words are powerful, they can encourage, comfort, inspire and educate. And focusing on language skills has been shown to support effective brain development in children. For example, research has show that kids with good language skills, especially those that speak two languages or more, are more likely to have a positive attitude to learning as they participate and interact with others. These kids learn to love communication through language.
Beyond its academic and life-skill benefits, kids with multiple languages can express their emotions. They can communicate both verbally and non-verbally and can understand and empathise with others around them. The more you help your child to understand their emotions through talking about how they are feeling, the more they can manage and express these when in academic settings.
By practicing the language of emotions on a regular basis and recognising that we can all feel happy, sad, excited etc., we can help children communicate more effectively from an early age.
How to manage your child’s big emotions with positive communication
As individuals, we create an atmosphere around us and we take our moods with us, everywhere we go. Some people are more skilled than others at managing their moods and emotions, and this is particularly important when interacting with children. Take a moment to think about any recent situation when your child was upset, how did you manage their emotions?
Simple communication strategies when speaking to children
Name That Feeling!
Children learn how to take control of their feelings by learning how to recognise them through activities. When adults observe strong emotions in a child, it can be helpful to acknowledge this. Try, ‘you look very sad, I’m sorry you dropped your ice-cream.’ Try combining this with the next strategy to combine both a verbal and non-verbal message to your child.
A Little Pat
Touch is the very first of the senses to develop and is crucial for emotional development. An affectionate pat can signal love, attention and affection and , at the same time, can reduce anxiety and stress. It’s amazing that a little pat on the shoulder or the back can convey so much and is actually really important in terms of a child’s healthy emotional development. So, the next time you anticipate that your child might feel anxious (going to school, or to a learning centre) try giving them a little pat on your way there and be aware of the power of connecting physically.
Positivity Power
The more positive words we speak, the more we build happy relationships as we model genuine affection. When you make an effort to focus on positive communication, you are helping your child’s brain to develop stronger connections that will support them in communicating well with others and in coping with their emotions. For example, ‘good job Marsha, look how well you made that model! It’s really strong and you used different colours too…’ So, by being more mindful about how you communicate, and practicing these simple strategies, you will be improving the way you interact with your child and with other children and adults. Positivity is contagious!
How we embrace positive communication at Dadi Mandarin and Otto2
Over the past 20 years, we have developed and refined a tried and tested teaching methodology. At its heart, is a concept that embraces positive learning and communication. We believe that children learn best when they are well supported and happy. Our light, bright, clean, and fun learning environments and highly trained, friendly teachers help to create the perfect setting to learn. Our curriculum supports international school Mandarin and Art programs, and we deliver all our teaching in a highly supportive and engaging style.
We hope you enjoyed this blog. Stay tuned next week for our next edition. As always, if you would like to book a trial class for Dadi or Otto2, please get in touch.
You may also be interested in reading Creativity and Making Time for Fun.
Developed for Dadi Mandarin and written by WOI.