Honouring Feelings

by | Jan 22, 2016 | Emotional wellbeing, Family Health | 0 comments

Feelings, I have many. As I’m sure you do too. How each of us expresses our feelings, however, can differ remarkably.

What about babies, toddlers and children? Little humans who are still relatively new to the world, muddling their way through their relationships, emotions and communication techniques.

I’ve been considering this a lot lately, as my baby transitions to toddlerhood and experiments with many different (and sometimes challenging!) ways to express how she feels at any given moment. My husband and I are sometimes torn between honouring her feelings, trying to understand what she’s telling us, and diffusing major meltdowns about (to us) seemingly minor things.

A good friend of mine recently put me onto Circle of Security, an organisation that provides information and programs aimed at enhancing communication and relationships between parents and children. Their work is based on decades of research and clinical practice, and has an approach that I find extremely accessible.

They’ve also produced a series of bite-size videos, which I just love. Take a look. Does it resonate with you too?

Being-With and Shark Music — Circle of Security International from Circle of Security International on Vimeo.

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  We live in a shared world. All children need to know that their feelings are central to someone some of the time and they also need to know that other people have feelings and priorities that are just as central to them. Feelings can be shared which includes sharing our world with others who also have feelings.”