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How do you know your child is happy?

We are all striving and working hard to ensure that we provide the best for our children, but take away the toys, clothes and video games we all want to know that what we are doing is making our children happy.

Ask yourself - How do you know when you are happy?

How do others know when you are happy?

How do you know when others are happy?

                    How do you know when you are happy, sad or tired?

These can be difficult questions for us to answer as individuals yet alone to try and work them out for our children. Teaching our children the range of emotions that they can experience as well as tuning-in to the signs and behaviour of these emotions is a complex skill. The more skilled you become in helping your child figure out how they are feeling the better chance you have to keep them on an even keel and avoid confrontation or temper tantrums. Try watching your child as they play, how do they express their happiness or frustration. Can you figure out the feeling before they speak about it, are you able to see when they get angry? Dependant on the age of your child, you may notice that it is easier to see the raw emotions of your little ones less so than your older children as they learn to control how they are feeling more.

As parents we often have a high level of understanding of our child's cues but lack the confidence in their own ability. Remember you are an expert in your child. The cues we use to figure out how they are feeling include the look in their eye, whether they look at you, their body language as well as what they say or how they behave. By tuning in to these cues you learn to see how your child communicates with you without saying a word and in turn how you respond.

If you would like to know more about understanding your child's behaviour there are a number of groups running across Solihull that can help. Please contact the office for more details.

Source: Solihull Approach Parenting Pack

Sonya Wallbank