Understanding Children's Feelings: emotional literacy in early childhood

Abstract

The "Research in Practice Series" is published four times each year by Early Childhood Australia. The series aims to provide practical, easy to read, up-to-date information and support to a growing national readership of early childhood workers. The books bring together the best information available on wide-ranging topics and are an ideal resource for children's services workers and others interested in the care and education of young children. The complex area of emotional development is one that challenges early childhood teachers, parents, and carers.

In this book, the author explores how children can be supported and encouraged to be aware of their feelings and to understand how they can deal with them. The author suggests using a variety of activities from the arts, to enhance the expression of feelings and to address some of the difficult areas. The inclusion of emotional literacy is an important component of early childhood education, to develop each child's full potential. Actively teaching emotional and social development is preferable to a reliance on children developing such skills naturally as they grow–this book offers a great resource to make a start or augment an existing approach.