Let’s talk about our little ones frustrations.
We need to remember that although we have these little humans that are growing. They have big feelings. We need to teach them how to identify and deal with their feelings.
I’ve noticed that Miss Emma tends to get frustrated when something doesn’t go her way. It can be just the simplest things. One of the ways we work on dealing with her frustrations is talking to her calmly and telling her to relax, to not get frustrated and to take a deep breath. She even started to count to 5 too.
I find that she is getting frustrated playing with her toys. If she’s building a tower out of blocks and they keep falling down, she’ll get frustrated. If she’s building a puzzle and can’t get the pieces to fit nicely, she’ll get frustrated. If she’s having trouble putting on her shoes, she’ll get frustrated. If she’s having screen time and wants to change what she’s watching, but has trouble, it frustrates her. Because everyday things will frustrate her, it’s important to teach her how to respond to the frustration in a positive way. We want to eliminate the kicking, throwing, hitting, screaming or crying that kids may start to display when frustrated. It’s definitely getting better with our 5 steps.
Here’s what we use to calm down when frustrated.
- We tell her in a soothing voice “Relax, relax, calm down”
- We tell her next in a soothing voice “Stop what you’re doing and take a deep breath”
- We tell her next to Count to 5
- We then tell her to “take one more deep breath”
- Then we demonstrate that she needs to focus and take her time to complete her task. It almost always works.
There are days, where none of these work. That’s when I take away whatever is frustrating her and say “No more “whatever it is” until you stop being frustrated. I’ll then say, let’s read a book together, or let’s go for a walk outside, or let’s put on your favorite show. Taking her completely away from the frustrating obstacle, until we’re ready to tackle it again.
I caught one of her frustrated moments. This was a mild frustration. She’s had really bad ones, I just haven’t caught it on film yet.
