Emotional Regulation and Behavior Management Coaching

I have been working with many children and families regarding emotional regulation and behavior management over the past few years. Below are some ideas that you might find useful, however, not all ideas may be useful or affective. Use your best judgement as a parent/role model/caregiver. Supervision required for safety.

• You can “coach” your child when they are experiencing difficulty with emotional regulation and/or behavior management. This is also called co-regulation, where you can coach your child through their emotional regulation.

• Validate their feelings and/or identify how they are feeling (e.g., it seems like you are feeling ____, and I am sorry you feel that way). You can use visual charts. This can help them to develop empathy and learn that they are not a bad person and it is not wrong to have emotions. Everyone has emotions, we just have to use positive coping skills.

• Check in with their emotions throughout the day so identifying emotions is not only associated with “red zone” moments. You can use emotion charts for this and provide examples to help them.

• You can read stories together about emotions or watch movies about emotions.

• After the child comes down from being “out of control” or related "red zone" moments, talk about what happened, why, what behaviors were not OK, and what we can do to feel better in the future (e.g., positive coping skills). Talk about how you both can implement these strategies in the future.

• Come up with a list of "positive coping skills" (e.g., hugs, snacks, movement)

• You can also be a coach/role model for your child by demonstrating your own effective emotional regulation throughout everyday life.

Please reach out with any questions or concerns via my contact page on my website!