Plainsailing through the ABC's
Plainsailing through the ABC's
Emotional Literacy - Drawing Emotions Out
Introduction: Emotional Literacy is the ability to identify, understand and express emotions in a healthy way. Children do not gain emotional literacy just by experience. We should help our children to understand that all emotions are healthy and we can each benefit from them.
Emotional literacy is the ability to correctly perceive feelings, both in oneself others. If you misperceive feelings in yourself, it will cause you to react in a way that will likely not get you what you really want. For example, many people confuse frustration and anger. Frustration means that something is hard to accomplish. Anger usually means that someone is trying to hurt you (even yourself, as in when you berate yourself for doing something wrong). What do you do when you are frustrated? Take a break, ask for help, keep trying. What do you do when you are angry? Yell or withdraw. If a child is working on difficult homework and they label themselves as angry, they will likely act out or quit. If they can label themselves as frustrated, they will more likely cope more appropriately and complete the homework.*
The course is about conducting lessons about emotional literacy through art. Art has long been recognized as a natural means for self expression and reflection. In the 7-session course, art will be used as an effective facilitator for children to come to learn about their own emotions. In each session, a child learns about one core emotion, how to recognize it, express it appropriately, and transform it to a powerful energy. The core emotions are:
More importantly, we invite all parents to dedicate time to dialogue with their child or children about the nature of emotions. Let's support our children in being fluent in the language of human emotions so that they truly lead us into a new century of empathy, tolerance and compassion.
For more information on course schedule and enrollment, please contact us.