Thoughts: Emotional Literacy

In 2013, I learned about what it means to be emotionally available for my children. This was my aim, amongst other things, for my children. I was a new parent and I only had one child at the time, but with family planning, I knew I would have more. I knew the type of relationship I wanted to foster with my children. Over the years I began to realize that this parenting journey wasn't just based on a one time learning experience. Its based on a continuation of learning and new situations arise.

By the year 2016, I had 3 children and my littles were requiring emotional intimacy.

In 2016, I learned from Gibson, how to implement emotional intelligence and foster emotional intimacy, and that has followed me in my parenting journey. Emotional intimacy is feeling completely safe opening up to another person, even if it's just by being together quietly in a state of connection.

Day by day, my aim is to foster connections with my family unit made up of husband, wife, and children.

In my family unit, we started practicing emotional literacy:

Noticing the emotion

Naming the emotion

Understanding the emotion, which also includes learning how to manage them in a healthy way.

I find myself being more intentional in this season of my life. I’m not perfect, and I’m not claiming to be; however, I am dedicated to growth, healing and ending generational curses.

Below are 5 ways on how I'm practicing emotional literacy with my family:

Reading books to the children about characters feeling different emotions

Using empathy in conflict resolution- “ How do you think _ might be feeling?”

Using emotional problem solving

Spend 15 minutes of alone time with each child per day to foster connection uninterrupted

Using an emotional chart to assist accessing the true emotions

I like this emotional chart below

Helping my children work through big emotions has helped myself in more ways than one.