Understanding Others’ Feelings
At this age, your little one has started to identify their own emotions, but it’s not too early to start teaching them how to recognize how others are feeling.
Talking about everyone’s emotions will increase your child’s ability to identify not only their feelings, but also others’ feelings too!
It’s not always easy for young kids to understand how other people are viewing or responding to different situations, but that’s where you come in! Here are some ways to help your child identify how other people are feeling:
- Encourage your child to think of how they might feel in a particular situation in order to help them develop empathy and understanding for others.
- If your 5-year-old takes a toy away from her 2-year-old brother without asking and he starts to cry, say, “How do you feel when people take your toys without asking? I bet it makes you feel pretty mad. Do you think that your brother might be angry that you took his toy?”
Time to get artsy!
Have your little one practice drawing different faces, like a sad face, happy face, or angry face to identify how someone may look when experiencing different emotions.
- Begin to talk to your child about “clues” they can use to figure out how someone may be feeling. At this age, keep it simple by looking for “clues” in someone’s facial expressions and body language. “Clues” that someone is feeling angry might include a red face, clenched jaw, glaring eyes, or flaring nostrils.
Let your child be a detective and have them solve the “Case of the Mystery Feeling.” While reading books together, point to a character and ask:
- How do you think this person is feeling?
- Why are they feeling that way?
- How do you know they are feeling that way?
- How would you feel if that happened to you?