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As a parent, how often do you experience sudden emotional outbursts, meltdowns, or a never-ending loop of tantrums from your little ones? Quiet often, isn’t it? So, how do you deal with them? With patience or with anger?

Well, we at Sapphire International School, regarded as one of the top schools in Noida, understand that the tantrums thrown by the little ones are the most difficult to deal with, and they can even make the parents feel helpless and agitated. To ease this situation, we encourage parents to leverage the power of a transformational emotional tool, i.e., reflecting feelings.

Once you learn to reflect feelings to children, you can easily navigate the emotional storms while building a sense of trust and security that waters your parent-child relationship. If this sounds new and makes you wonder how something as simple as reflecting feelings can diffuse a kid’s tantrums, this article will solve your doubts. We have done extensive research on the topic and found that reflecting emotions to children is an excellent strategy because of the following reasons:

• Helps Validate Emotions

When children lack the necessary vocabulary to express strong emotions, like anger, frustration, sadness, etc., they start throwing tantrums. It is a way for them to express their feelings and be heard. While parents may be tempted to use strict actions to control kids’ tantrums, a better way is to reflect on their feelings.

So, whenever you notice your children feeling sad or angry, use statements like ‘I understand you’re feeling…’ It can instantly calm their emotions by making them feel heard, acknowledged, and understood. As a result, kids start processing their feelings instead of venting them out through tantrums.

• Creates a Safe Environment for Expressing Emotions

A safe environment isn’t necessarily about having a well-gated and security-laden environment. While it is essential, this point emphasizes an environment where kids feel safe to express their feelings. We at Sapphire International School firmly believe that children living in a secure environment tend to have lesser extreme tantrums. Living in a supportive environment gives them a chance to freely express their emotions without fearing getting misjudged or punished. Any parent can transform their house into a secure environment by being reflective of their kid’s emotions.

• Models Emotional Regulation

Parents are always children’s first role models. As such, when children see their parents reflecting feelings calmly and in an understanding way, they replicate the same. If you want your kids to adopt healthy coping strategies instead of using aggressive actions, you must start by reflecting on emotions yourself. It sets a good example that kids can use in the future. This effective technique may not generate instant results, but constant efforts will show visible improvements over a period.

• Connects Through Deep Understanding

When a child throws tantrums, that’s generally because they are feeling overwhelmed and frustrated from the inside. They also feel a sense of disassociation from the world. But when parents start reflecting on feelings, it helps bridge the gap between their empathetic response and the kid’s emotions. As a result, the kid feels less lonely, and his emotional turmoil starts settling down. It helps them lower their tantrum’s frequency and intensity.

The key is to understand, acknowledge, and connect to their emotions. It gives them a sense of emotional safety, validation, and heightened trust, making it easier for them to choose healthy coping mechanisms than throwing tantrums.

• Encourages Verbal Expression

It has been seen that kids generally throw tantrums when they struggle to express their needs and struggles. If parents can work on the root cause leading to tantrums, the problem can be solved for good.

Thus, being one of the top schools in Noida, our advice to parents in this regard would be to make statements that encourage verbal expressions whenever you see your kids throwing tantrums for any reason. It will help your kids find the right words to express their feelings, eventually lowering their tantrum intensity. Ensure your kids release all pent-up emotions so they don’t feel the need to throw tantrums to feel heard or understood. Trust us; reflecting feelings is the easiest way to achieve it!

Conclusion

Parenting is indeed difficult, but equipping yourself with the right tools and strategies can make it a pleasurable journey. With the apt approach to tackling challenges like tantrums, you can actually grow as a parent while helping your little ones learn the nuances of good behavior. To that end, reflecting feelings is one technique that can help your kids feel seen, heard, understood, and emotionally validated. It is a great way to target the root cause that compels children to throw tantrums, thereby lowering it significantly.