Care for Children- Responding to Emotional Needs

8/12/2019 Care for Children- Responding to Emotional Needs

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CHCCN302A Care For

Children

Responding to the emotional needsof children


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CONCERN

Consideration for childrens wants and

interests


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SECURITY

Children need a sense of belongingand being accepted for themselves


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Continuity and stimulus

Children need predictabilityin their life withchallenging,interesting

experiences


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Support and affirmation

Guidance throughencouragement and

praise more thancontrol through fearand punishment


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Boundaries

Clear limits need to be set by adultsand be consistent


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WHAT IS YOUR ROLE IN PROVIDING EMOTIONALSUPPORT FOR CHILDREN?

As a carer, your role is to: Develop age-appropriate routines Provide a stable and predictable environment

Identify and respond to childrens feelings openly and withrespect Ensure childrens communications are encouraged, listened to

and treated with respect Give children opportunities to express their emotions

appropriately Comfort children when they are hurt or distressed Inform and prepare children for change


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A PROBLEM SHARED IS A PROBLEMHALVED

Helping children understand what they are feelingCaregivers need to remember that:

Childrens feelings are real and legitimate to them

There are no right or wrong emotionsChildren cannot necessarily help how they arefeeling, nor can they simply change their emotionson commandAll emotions serve as a function in a childs life


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Before children can talk about how they are feeling,they need to understand and give the emotion a label.

Providing children with the vocabulary to describetheir emotions can be done through role modeling.

Example 1

Situation: Matt is having difficulty getting hisshoe on and begins to growl and stomp hisfoot.

Adult: Your shoe wont go on and this isfrustrating you Matt.


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Example 2

Situation: Barry has climbed to the top of thefort. With a big smile on his face he yells Heyeveryone, look at me!

Adult: Youre proud you have

climbed so high!, or It feels

good to be at the top!


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Example 3

Situation: Marlene complains that she had toclean up before her turn was over.

YOUR TURN TO RESPOND TO MARLENE Adult: You didnt get to finish your turn; thatsannoying. Its frustrating to be interrupted.


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Helping children express their emotionsappropriately

This can be done by: Encouraging the child to draw about how he/she isfeeling

Helping the child write a story about how they werefeeling

Acting out emotions through music and movement Allowing acting out of anger and other emotions during

dramatic play Encouraging use of miniatures and models to act out

stories containing anger Reading stories about children in similar situations


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Helping children talk

about their feelingsOnce children are able to identify and label their

feelings, they can be encouraged to talk about theirown feelings. This requires a lot of trust. You, as acarer, should:

Listen to the words children are using and use these

same words in your interactions Be sensitive to non-verbal cues Help children apply problem solving processes to their

situation


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Preparing children for unforeseen change

Caregivers can do much to alleviate childrensstress by integrating knowledge andunderstanding about life events into theprogram. Consider the following case study:


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Jane ensures that she reads stories about children going intohospital regularly to the 4 year olds in her care. These storiesprovide an avenue to talk to the children about how they might

feel if they had to go to hospital suddenly and what they mightexpect to see in hospital. Children who have already been inhospital are able to share their experiences with the otherchildren and together they can plan their strategies for copingin the event that any of them were admitted to hospital.

Jane also ensures that she makes props related to the hospitalexperience available to children in the dramatic play area.Dress ups include doctor and nurse outfits and accessories.

She also arranges visits to the local hospital from time to timeand encourages parents who are doctors or nurses to come inand talk to the children from time to time.


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These play experiences also enable

children whose siblings may be inhospital to talk and work out their ownfeelings, which may include guilt,

jealousy, rejection, isolation and fear.


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Consider the following stressful events and make a listof activities and experiences you can build into theprogram that would help children cope with suchevents if they were to arise:

Birth of a new baby

Moving house Hospitalisation Divorce or separation of parents Changing schools

Death of a pet Marriage or remarriage of parents

Documents

Care for Children- Responding to Emotional Needs