Emotional literacy may be a mouthful, but it’s an absolute pre-requisite for developing a strong sense of self-compassion and empathy.

By giving our kids tools to articulate their emotions they get better not only in defining their own feelings but also recognizing them in others.

If we want our kids to be proficient emotional communicators (ie. talking it out or “using their words” rather than going Lethal Weapon on their siblings and playmates), we need to first teach them the language.

In this week’s video we’re talking all things emotions, including why it’s important to be able to name what we’re feeling, PLUS three really fun ways you can help teach your kids to name their emotions, including:

• Emoji Emotions
  How you can use your phone to get curious with your kids
  
• Grocery Store Detectives
  Pretending you’re undercover detectives, considering what people might be feeling based on their facial expressions and body language
  
• Feeling Faces
  Google “feeling faces” and see what comes up. Ask your kids what they think each “face” is feeling

I also have a hot-off-the-press “Feeling Vocabulary” download to help you move beyond “happy” and “sad” as your go-to emotional descriptors.  This sucker has over 50 different feeling words, so make sure to grab your free copy via our Parenting Resource Library.