Honoring the Emotional Child

Posted on September 15, 2014 by Susannah-Joy

By far the most coherent and helpful thing I’ve read lately on the need to “be with” a child in an emotional moment. There is no contradiction between connecting with a child in an emotional meltdown of any sort, and maintaining boundaries which model, teach, and practice good discipline. Excellent article.

Abundant Life Children

Crying. Screaming. Whining. Moping. Melting down. Pestering. Throwing a tantrum. Pitching a fit. We have many ways to describe a child’s emotional sorrows: the anger, desire, frustration, fury, sadness, and loneliness experienced by the young children in our lives. As parents and providers, we are not-so-subtly pressured to get these moments under control. The sideways glances while we are out in public, or the raised eyebrows of judgment imploring a tighter reign over our reckless and disrespectful lot. And then there is the more powerful internal drive to fix. We often hold the power to bandage the woes – the desired cookie, the delayed bedtime, the ability to walk instead of ride. Yet what do children experience when we fix? And is the fix always truly a fix?