Supporting children experiencing intense emotions
About this pathway
As parents, we play an important role in supporting children’s emotional development, helping them understand their own emotions and express them in supportive ways.
Understanding children’s emotions and behaviours, and knowing the most helpful ways to respond, is not always easy. If you have not already, we suggest working through the Understanding and supporting your child’s emotions and behaviour pathway before exploring the content in this one. It provides an overview of how children learn about their emotions and develop the skills to regulate them, with the support of their parents and other caring adults in their life.
This pathway is for parents of children experiencing ongoing intense emotions – such as anxiety, anger, sadness and guilt – and the worrying or concerning behaviours that often come with those emotional experiences. It will guide you to:
understand and know how to validate your child’s experiences
explore and talk about their experiences together
learn strategies for safe and helpful ways to respond and support your child.
This pathway offers strategies that are proven to be helpful across a range of intense emotions and emotional behaviours. These are safe and straightforward to try at home. These strategies can be used whether your child is seeing a health professional or not, including while they are waiting to get an assessment or support.
Please read the following information about this pathway and how you can get the most out of it.