Someone recently asked, “what have your 3 happiest moments been in life so far?”
The easiest was immediately recalled: the birth of my (now 18 month old) son. Then I had to consider: in a life often brim-full of joy, what has made me most happy?
As our children grow, we all know the vital importance of empowering them with coping mechanisms, which include emotive language. Self-expression can be a powerful solution to tantrums and misunderstanding.
Experts say that one of the most effective ways your child learns language is through hearing you talk! So, when we talk, what do we say? How often do we tell our child, “I feel happy” or “it makes me so happy when…”. It’s important to describe our positive feelings to our children.
Maybe start with the exercise above: could you tell your child the 3 stories/scenarios in which you have felt most happy? Can they begin to tell you? Sometimes just remembering puts a smile on your face.