Today’s Practice:

The first step toward teaching your children how to master their emotions is to focus on where they feel tight in their body when they are anxious, upset, angry or frustrated. Do they clench their fists, tighten their jaw, raise their shoulders, or breathe quickly? It’s different for each person.

Once they’ve identified where they feel tight, explain that tension in the body is called a sensation and sensations tell us that we need to focus and respond. Next teach them how to stop, focus and breathe whenever they feel a sensation in their body – to relax their body as they quiet their mind. Eventually, you can build up their feeling word vocabulary to assist them in putting names to their sensations. You can post the words on the wall, adding to your list from time to time, talking about feelings and sensations as you do so.

You can also listen to the song Stop and Think if you’d like to reinforce your message.

Linda Lantieri

Linda Lantieri, author, keynote speaker, and internationally known expert in social and emotional learning and conflict resolution, is one of the founding board members of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL). Lantieri is coauthor of Waging Peace in Our Schools, editor of Schools With Spirit: Nurturing the Inner Lives of Children and Teachers, and author of Building Emotional Intelligence: Techniques to Cultivate Inner Strength in Children