Emotions: A Guide for Parents
Helping Children Understand and Express Their Emotions

​Understanding and expressing emotions is a vital skill that helps children build healthy relationships, develop emotional intelligence, and navigate social situations. The five core emotions, happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust, are universal and serve important functions. Teaching children to recognize and express these feelings promotes emotional awareness and resilience.

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Create a Safe and Supportive Environment

• Encourage open conversations about feelings without judgment.
• Model emotional expression yourself to set a positive example.
• Validate your child's feelings, emphasizing that all emotions are normal.

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Teaching Children About the Five Core Emotions

Understanding and recognizing the five core emotions is essential for your child's emotional development. When children learn to identify and express these feelings, they build emotional awareness, which helps them communicate their needs, build empathy for others, and develop healthy coping skills. This foundation supports their overall well-being, social relationships, and resilience, enabling them to navigate life's challenges with confidence and understanding.

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Happiness - Feeling Happy

Celebrate moments of joy and teach children to recognize when they feel happy. Encourage them to share what makes them happy.

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Sadness - Feeling Sad

Acknowledge sadness as a natural response to loss or disappointment. Teach children that it's okay to feel sad and to express it through words or gentle actions.

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Anger - Feeling Angry

Help children identify anger and understand its purpose (e.g., standing up for oneself). Teach healthy ways to express anger, such as talking, drawing, or physical activity.

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Fear - Feeling Afraid

Discuss fears openly, reassuring children that feeling afraid is normal. Encourage coping strategies like deep breathing or seeking comfort.

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Disgust

Explain that disgust helps us avoid things that might harm us. Teach children to express disgust appropriately, such as saying "That smells bad" or "I don't like that."

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Additional Age-Appropriate Tips for Parents

The following can help you, as a parent or caregiver, better understand the importance of using age-appropriate language and activity tools, providing your child with different ways of encouraging them to express their feelings, and teaching them healthy ways to cope with how they feel. 

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Use Age-Appropriate Language and Activity Tools

• Use emotion words regularly to build vocabulary (e.g., "Are you feeling sad or upset?").
• Read books or watch shows that depict characters experiencing various emotions, then discuss these moments.
• Use emotion charts or facial expression pictures to help children identify and label feelings.

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Different Ways of Encouraging Expression

• Verbalize feelings: "I see you're upset. Would you like to talk about it?"
• Creative outlets: drawing, storytelling, or role-playing to express emotions visually or through imagination.
• Physical activities: dancing or sports to release energy associated with strong feelings.

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Teach Coping and Regulation Skills

• Practice techniques like deep breathing, counting, or quiet time to manage intense emotions.
• Reinforce patience and self-control, emphasizing that feelings are temporary.
• See Coping Strategies and Activities for Preschoolers, School-aged Children, and Teens

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​By consistently validating and teaching about emotions, parents empower children to understand and express their feelings healthily. This foundation fosters emotional intelligence, resilience, and better social interactions as they grow. If you need more help, use the Feelings Thermometer (select below).

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Feelings Thermometer

The feelings thermometer is a visual tool for parents use in order to help their child identify and express how they’re feeling by using a thermometer scale components, from calm to very upset. 

Click to image above

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References

• Blum, M., & Ribner, A. (2022). Parents' expressed emotions and children's executive functions. Journal of experimental child psychology, 219, 105403. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2022.105403
• ​Diamond, A., & Lee, K. (2011). Interventions shown to aid executive function development in children 4 to 12 years old. Science (New York, N.Y.), 333(6045), 959–964. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204529
  
• Saarni, C. (1999). The development of emotional competence. Guilford Press.

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