Page 10 - 101 SEL Activities

Mindfulness: This can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people. We like to keep it simple: being mindful is when you are doing one thing at a time. When you are fully immersed in the one thing you are doing without thinking about anything else or multitasking.
Emotional vocabulary: This refers to the language we have/develop to identify and discuss our emotions. In order to be able to understand our emotions we must first have the words to do so. The broader our emotional vocabulary, the better we can communicate with and understand others. Having a sizable emotional vocabulary increases our capacity to connect with others and with the world around us.
Often children do not have language to articulate their feelings. As a result, they resort to acting out their emotions, often in an ineffective manner (tantrums, out bursts, isolating, etc.). Once they have the vocabulary to articulate their feelings, they begin to better understand and articulate what they need.
These are the emotions we help them identify first: happy, sad, mad, frustrated, scared, worried, and jealous.
See Figure 2: Page 5
Drain vs. Recharge: It is important to know what drains you vs. what recharges you emotionally. For instance, maybe you are more introverted and too much time around others drains you. (This doesn’t mean you don’t like to be around others. It simply means that too much people time drains your emotional battery.) For others, who are more extroverted perhaps, lots of socialization recharges them. Identify those things that drain you and those that recharge you and help your child do the same. If you do can do this, you’ve already got a great start on managing your stress.
Emotional Availability: Just as there are only 24 hours in a day, we only have so much emotional availability. If we give attention to one area, we are taking from another. When we are short on emotional availability we have a difficult time managing our emotions. Think of your own emotional availability as a pie. What/who takes up slices of your pie?
See Figure 3: Page 6
Stress: Contrary to popular opinion, stress is not always a bad thing, nor does it always have to be a problem. It becomes a problem when we cannot manage it. Surprisingly, sometimes things we love and enjoy cause us stress. Maybe a weekend of running around with friends is a blast, but it can also be stressful. We call these fun stressors. It’s best not to discredit them. Stress is stress, no matter the package it comes in, and it needs to be managed.
Validation: It is important to validate (recognize and affirm) your child’s emotions and opinions. This doesn’t mean that you have to agree, it simply means you acknowledge them and help them feel heard. As parents we can be too quick to offer advice or to try and fix things. Sometimes it is more important to just listen and validate.
-4-