Even though they don’t still talk, children have emotions and a way to tell you how they feel. It’s only up to you to understand them.
A dictionary says that emotion is a strong mental or instinctive feeling such as love or fear. For children, emotions are instinctive, not learned (still) and the first emotions are love or fear.
Next, love is connected to several basic feelings like comfort, happiness and excitement. Sadness, anger and discomfort together with fear are negative emotions.
Do you need to be an expert to discover the feelings faces in your children?
Love and Comfort
Everyone can feel it when love is in the air. I think there is no person in the world who could not recognize the face of love. This is one of the first emotions developed in children raised in a caring family. You should cherish this emotion in your children and make children feel loved. That is how they will become affectionate and give you back the love you gave them when the time comes.
A child’s comfort is the feeling that supports love. If your child feels comfortable, enjoys their stay in your family, is fed, clean and well taken care of, of course, they will love you.
How can you tell that your child is content and comfortable?
Look at their faces. If you see a clear face, bright eyes, a modest or a big smile and no frown – then that’s that. All the more, if your child is cooing, gurgling or babbling they show more than content. Just let them be, let them play with the language they know. Don’t interrupt them. Enjoy the view, because they grow up fast and they change. Each of their steps of development is a limited edition.
Happiness and Excitement
It’s so easy for a child to be happy. They need so little, so why not give it to them? Sometimes, tickling is the trigger of their happiness. If you play tickle, tickle, tickle they will be overwhelmed with joy and want more and more. I know you don’t have much time, anyway who has it today? My suggestion is to spend as much time as you can with your children, it may seem long and sometimes even boring, but when it’s finished, you’ll see that it lasted short.
Surprise, surprise is the act that arouses children’s interest and excitement. For a very small baby, just hide something behind your pack, say surprise and show it. Wait for the baby’s reaction. Watch out, if you are too loud or bring the object too close to the baby, they might get scared. Do it gently and quietly and then, if the baby likes it you repeat it in a more exciting way.
What helped me keep positive emotions up with my kids was playing the game of appearing. I would take a blanket (or a bed sheet or towel) that I would hold with my hands to cover my head. Then I would say: Where is mummy? Putting the blanket down I would say Here I am.
Of course, you change the words and actions as the child grows up and change the order – you can make yourself disappear rather than appear. This is a simpler version of Peekaboo. Peekaboo games can be used as emotional support for bigger children.
Children’s attention is short, so you have to keep them entertained by often change of the play. My suggestion for 6-12 months babies is here.
Sadness and Anger
Sadness is easy to discover in children. Their eyes don’t shine, they are blurred and they are ready to cry at any moment. It’s easy to see but is it easy to stop the feeling and make them happy?
A sad child has a reason that you are responsible as a parent to discover and fix. Observe the child’s behaviour and see what makes them sad. Maybe they are hungry or thirsty. These are the basic instincts that at the beginning of their lives make them happy or sad. So first discover the reason and then try to fix it.
If not fixed, sadness can turn into anger. A hungry child is sad at first but as hunger gets stronger the baby gets angry. Anger is very easily noticeable. The baby’s face frowns and the kid cries a lot or even screams uncontrollably until the cause of their anger is removed. The usual reasons for anger in small babies are hunger, tiredness, discomfort, or pain. As the babies grow, the list of reasons gets bigger. For example, the next item on this list would be – being unable to get or do what they want. They are little explorers but sometimes their bodies cannot follow their minds and sight, their cognitive development is faster than their motor development.
How to fix children’s negative emotions?
After you have fixed the cause of their sadness or anger then a toy gets its role. Just carefully choose a proper toy for the age of your child, and take care that it is of organic, natural material with no harmful or toxic substances. You know I choose wood over all other natural materials and you can see my suggestion here.
Discomfort and Fear
With very small babies, the discomfort usually comes with full diapers, sleepiness or hunger. How can you tell that your baby doesn’t feel comfortable? Lowering eyebrows, squeezing the eyes and wrinkling the nose are the facial expressions that will tell you that your baby is feeling annoyed.
First, check that the reason for discomfort is not pain or colic. It’s good if discomfort comes from easily removable items. Just clean them, change their diaper, feed them or lull them to sleep.
Fear usually appears, in the early stages, from unknown people or loud sounds. The facial expression of fear is also recognizable. Wide open eyes and mouth, a scream or a cry will tell you that your child is scared. Immediately remove the object of fear and if you think that your child needs to adapt to it, you can gradually introduce it to them later. Except for gradual exposure, make sure you are by the child to give them comfort. When they feel safe, they will easily adapt to their new surroundings.
However, either for discomfort or fear, you can make your child feel better by playing with them, taking them to the park or doing anything else that will distract their attention from the cause of their fear or discomfort. Thus, you will strengthen your bond with your child and you will be their hero.
Emotions Reviewed
Basic emotions are very important to follow and grow carefully. They are all normal emotions that people feel from the start till the end of their lives. Try to encourage and keep positive emotions in them and show them how you handle the negative ones by your example.
It is normal for a child to be scared of strangers and noises because they’ve never experienced it before in their lives. That is how they learn to show and handle their emotions.
Emotional development is very important because children learn to be self-confident and moreover, they develop empathy to understand those around them. Empathy is the best way to get knowledge first about oneself and then about others.
A responsible parent must know to recognize the feelings faces of their children and thus they are able to help them properly develop their emotional features.
Some things can’t be touched, only felt.
