EP 41 | Recognising Emotions: The First Step to Building Emotional Competence in Early Childhood

Children can't regulate feelings they don't know how to feel.

In part one of this three-part mini-series - that I'm affectionately calling Big Feelings 101 - I'm providing a compassionate, practical look at what emotional competence actually is (hint: it’s much more than just regulation), why it’s essential to how we understand and support children’s behaviour and the eight skills involved. I'll also provide a deep(ish) dive into the first two skills and how to bring them to life in your practice.

You’ll hear:

🐰 What emotional competence really means and why it’s often misunderstood

🐰 The first two foundational skills: recognising your own feelings and recognising them in others

🐰 The deep interconnection between how we recognise emotions in ourselves and in others

🐰 How interoception and theory of mind shape emotional awareness

🐰 Micro-moment that support these skills through everyday connection

This episode sets the groundwork for guiding big feelings without shame, power-over, or rewards and gives you the language to name what children actually need to become emotionally competent individuals.

PS: Very (very) mild coarse language features in this episode.

Articles

Implications of Carolyn Saarni’s work for preschoolers’ emotional competence

Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence

Early childhood teachers’ socialization of children’s emotional competence

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