Healthy Emotional regulation means understanding and managing one's emotions. Children can easily handle difficult situations when they can regulate their emotions. These kids tend to be more resilient. In addition, they are less prone to getting upset or overwhelmed. Their healthy coping strategies will help them feel calmer and more in control.

Many children with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder experience emotional dysregulation. Though emotional dysregulation is excluded from the standard diagnostic criteria, it is nevertheless a common and troubling feature of ADHD. Examples of Emotional Regulation issues in children are excessive anger, mood swings, irritability, sensitivity, and intense feelings.

Treatment for ADHD can sometimes ease these emotional symptoms, but it does not restore emotional balance or improve attention. Building emotional resilience is necessary to achieve a remarkable improvement in this area. 

To achieve better emotional stability, children with ADHD should learn coping strategies, meet their basic health needs, and seek professional interventions. In addition, consulting with an experienced clinical psychologist can help them learn critical skills like executive functioning and emotional intelligence.

Understanding Emotional Regulation in Kids

Individuals are said to be emotionally regulated when they recognize and control their emotions and respond appropriately to varying social settings. Watching how others react and behave consistently in certain situations teaches children these essential skills.

Engaging children in activities and using tools to help them regulate their emotions are necessary if they have difficulty recognizing and controlling their own. In addition, there are a lot of fun activities that can help improve emotional regulation while keeping children engaged.

Regulating emotions is very important for children as they grow up. It is as important as excelling academically and learning social-emotional skills. A child's emotional regulation impacts their physical and mental health. Additionally, it can adversely affect their problem-solving skills, relationships, and productivity.

Additionally, emotional regulation helps individuals to manage anxiety and stress, establish boundaries, develop empathy, and handle challenging situations. It is more likely that these kids will have a higher level of self-confidence, especially if they learn how to regulate emotions at a young age. 

Activities to Help with Emotional Dysregulation in Kids 

Here are some fun ideas that can help young children process their own emotions and have a great time doing so. These activities can help them learn important skills while understanding more about a wide range of emotions and big feelings that they may be experiencing for the first time.

1. Create an Emotions Board Game

The first step to playing this fun game is to create a board full of feelings and emotions for kids to use as reference. You'll need a symbol or small photo to correspond with each feeling or emotion on the board. 

The general idea is for the child to visualize each feeling or emotion you're trying to teach them. Your child may find it difficult to recognize certain emotions, so include them in varying intensities on the board. For example, the board can include different anger or sadness levels if your child has trouble coping with or recognizing these emotions. 

Doing so will help them relate to these feelings, especially when they experience emotional outbursts. Examples of emotions to put on the board are happiness, excitement, anger, annoyance, nervousness, anxiousness, embarrassment, frustration, loneliness, confusion, boredom, and overwhelm.

The next step is to create a stack of cards containing different situations. Each card must describe a variety of situations that require specific emotional reactions. Through this game, the child learns to recognize feelings and which emotional states require particular responses.

2. Keep an Emotions Bank

When your child is calm, have them write down every emotion they felt. No feeling should be overlooked, even if it's something your child might not typically discuss. After your child has listed each emotion, have them list all physical sensations associated with each. 

Discuss each emotion, especially the emotions your child has problems regulating. Show them alternative ways to act. Put that list somewhere they'll often see it and be reminded of the appropriate way to act.

Continue to add to this list for a month or more. It is best to complete this activity gradually over time instead of doing it all at once, which can sometimes result in overwhelm. Additionally, your child might only remember how they felt during a specific situation once they experience it again.

3. Play Stop Dance 

Self-control is also closely related to emotional regulation, like managing one’s physical or emotional state. This game allows children to improve their emotional regulation skills in a fun and healthy way, even if they play it only for several minutes. 

What seems to be a simple game can help emphasize how important it is to control their bodies and even their emotions. You only need music that can be paused and restarted frequently. Young children may find this game more enjoyable if they play with their siblings or parents.

All participants should dance or move when the music is playing. But s soon as the music stops, they should freeze and be quiet. This game emphasizes the contrast between acting silly when dancing and being serious while in freeze mode. 

It will further help them address the differences between emotional states and practice impulse control in different scenarios. Additionally, this game improves their gross motor skills. It also teaches them to control their emotions and self-regulate as they switch from dancing to freezing. 

Play fast-tempo and slow songs and ask the players to increase or decrease their pace of movement accordingly. Doing so exposes a child to stimuli in a fun way. It is an excellent game for regulating big emotions. To control emotions, a child must react to external inputs and triggers, such as movement breaks. That’s where this game can help.

4. Try Emotions Charades

Observing other people's emotions is also essential to improve your ability to regulate them. The easiest way to do this is to watch the people around you. You will get the same impact by modifying the classic games of charades, where emotions are acted out with visual cues for older children to identify. 

Someone has to act out different emotions for the child, and this game can be played silently or with sound effects. However, starting the game in silent mode allows the child to focus harder on identifying the physical markers associated with emotions and feelings. As the child enjoys guessing the different emotions, it also reinforces the physical attributes of these emotions.

5. Organize an Emotions Easter Egg Hunt

Add eyes and a mouth to Easter eggs to make various faces. Use plastic toys with interchangeable parts. Interchanging the parts to make different facial expressions helps children learn about different emotions. 

Then, like a real Easter egg hunt, hide the plastic eggs in certain areas. Give them clues as to where they can find them. This way, the child also learns problem-solving alongside emotion regulation skills. 

When your child finds an egg, let them determine which emotion is shown on it. Help them identify which negative emotions they are comfortable expressing or having problems regulating. Group the eggs in the basket accordingly, paying attention to the difficult emotions that require regulation.  

6. Read Books about Emotions

Your child can learn about different feelings and emotions by reading them books. For example, one study shows that children with higher language proficiency had better emotional competency test results (Kumschick et al., 2014). In addition, you can find books that teach children how to recognize specific emotions.

7. Encourage Writing about their Feelings

A daily journal is a great way for children to write about and reflect on their day. Aside from emotional regulation, this activity can also teach children time management and improve their working memory. 

One study shows that journaling is a great tool that can reduce mental distress, improve well-being, and enhance physical functions. Adding it to a person's daily medical care can help improve their quality of life (Smyth et al., 2018).

8. Introduce a New Hobby

Older kids with emotional regulation issues can benefit greatly from a new hobby. You should introduce your child to a new creative endeavor. The arts, music, and dance are some of the best ways to express and share emotions in tangible ways. According to one study, music and dance can trigger aesthetic and emotional responses (Dieterich-Hartwell, 2019).

9. Do Breathing Exercises 

As an essential part of emotional regulation, breathing exercises help calm and center oneself. Stress, anxiety, and anger cause a person’s breathing to become shallow and rapid. Children can benefit from basic breathing exercises to help them regulate their strong emotions.

Deep breathing exercises can calm your child down if they feel overwhelmed quickly. Taking deep breaths can reduce the intensity of most emotional situations. In addition, one study shows slow breathing helps synchronize brain waves, improving communication (Saha, 2023).

10. Join Yoga Sessions

Teaching kids calming poses in yoga shows them how to regulate their intense emotions. Aside from increasing oxygen flow to their brains, yoga activities also reduce the production of stress hormones and improve one's mood. Additionally, they boost resilience and self-confidence.

A growing body of research shows the positive effects of yoga on increasing one's emotional self-esteem, self-regulation, and emotional awareness. It also improves physical well-being by decreasing stress, anger, anxiety, and depression (Janjhua et al., 2020).

11. Practice Mindful Walking

Daily mindful walks are an excellent way to incorporate mindfulness. This exercise will help kids stay focused. It will also clear their minds and get them up and moving. Encourage your kids to walk with you around the neighborhood.

One study on mindfulness practice revealed that mindful walking for four weeks could reduce psychological distress compared to no intervention. Stress reduction can be achieved through mindfulness training and physical exercise (Teut et al., 2013).

Developing your child's emotional regulation skills will take time and patience. However, children can achieve tremendous success in social interactions when they know how to relate different emotions to any situation. 

References 

Dieterich-Hartwell, R. M. (2019). Music, movement, and emotions: an inquiry with suggestions for the practice of dance/movement therapy. Body, Movement and Dance in Psychotherapy, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/17432979.2019.1676310

Janjhua, Y., Chaudhary, R., Sharma, N., & Kumar, K. (2020). A study on effect of yoga on emotional regulation, self-esteem, and feelings of adolescents. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care, 9(7), 3381. https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_153_20

Kumschick, I. R., Beck, L., Eid, M., Witte, G., Klann-Delius, G., Heuser, I., Steinlein, R., & Menninghaus, W. (2014). READING and FEELING: the effects of a literature-based intervention designed to increase emotional competence in second and third graders. Frontiers in Psychology, 5. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01448

Pratt, R. R. (2004). Art, dance, and music therapy. Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinics of North America, 15(4), 827–841. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmr.2004.03.004

Saha, N. (2023, January 13). Review and meta-analysis suggest breathwork may be effective for improving stress and mental health. News-Medical.net. https://www.news-medical.net/news/20230113/Review-and-meta-analysis-suggests-breathwork-may-be-effective-for-improving-stress-and-mental-health.aspx?mibextid=Zxz2cZ

Smyth, J. M., Johnson, J. A., Auer, B. J., Lehman, E., Talamo, G., & Sciamanna, C. N. (2018). Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mental Health, 5(4), e11290. https://doi.org/10.2196/11290

Teut, M., Roesner, E. J., Ortiz, M., Reese, F., Binting, S., Roll, S., Fischer, H. F., Michalsen, A., Willich, S. N., & Brinkhaus, B. (2013). Mindful Walking in Psychologically Distressed Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013, 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/489856