Parent Education Activity Information Hub

What is Emotions?

• Emotions are natural responses.

• Throughout our growth, we continuously learn to recognize and accept our emotions.

• Children rely on us to guide them in learning, understanding, and managing their emotions.

Young Children's Emotional Management

Why can some young children regulate their emotions easily, while others seem to overwhelm their parents?

◆ Temperament

    Individual physiological differences lead to varying reactions; some young children respond intensely and quickly, while others are calm and easy-going.

◆ Cognitive Development

    Emotional concepts can be abstract and challenging to grasp. Not all young children can immediately find ways to handle complex emotions.

◆ Language Abilities

    Young children might not possess adequate language skills to articulate their emotions and needs effectively.

◆ Problem-Solving Skills

    Effectively managing emotions requires a combination of various skills, making it more challenging. Moreover, displaying emotional outbursts and exhibiting problematic behaviours are the most straightforward and accessible ways for young children to seek help.

Understanding the Causes of Problematic Behaviours

Problematic Behaviours: Temper Tantrums

⇒Causes: Weak language expression abilities, dislike for or misunderstanding of instructions, the emergence of individual personalities, and unmet emotional needs

Does your child's stubborn behaviour leave you feeling drained?

Nurturing parent-child relationships and parenting go beyond merely correcting children's undesirable behaviour.

• Understand your child's characteristics and show them more empathy.

• Set realistic expectations and acknowledge that change may not come easily for your child.

• Begin by accepting your child's current behaviour and emotional state.

• Next, formulate a step-by-step plan to support your child.

• Aid your child in receiving and comprehending a variety of messages in daily activities, including:

   - Instructions and routines

   - Effective use of visual cues

• Work on enhancing your child's social communication skills, encompassing both verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as the ability to share.

• Help you child navigate through transitions and regulate their emotions.

• Utilize advanced notifications effectively (for example, using timers, clocks, calendars to clarify expectations and provide a concrete sense of how long to wait).

Parents Role

⇒ Understanding and Handling Young Children's Emotions

• Recognize and address the emotional needs and behaviours of young children.

• Support young children in learning to express and manage their emotions in healthy ways.

• Foster a sense of security and establish secure attachment relationships.

  Research indicates that young children who have secure attachment relationships are more likely to develop better interpersonal relationships, greater confidence and independence, recover more swiftly from setbacks, and encounter fewer emotional difficulties during their childhood and teenage years.

Approaches to Handling Young Children's Emotions　　

⇒ Become an "emotional coach" for your child:

1.  Assist your child in acknowledging and accepting their emotions.

    • All “emotions” are acceptable.

    • However, not all “behaviours” are acceptable.

2. Help your child identify and comprehend their emotions.

3. Support your child through emotional experiences.

4. Aid your child in regulating their emotions.

⇒ Help your child learn to listen, understand, accept, and appreciate themselves.

Establishing Rules

1. Establish and uphold rules collectively.

2. Keep rules simple, clear, and comprehensible.

3. Adapt rules to suit young children's capabilities without overwhelming them.

4. Demonstrate empathy and offer support.

5. Employ rewards and praise judiciously.

6. Regularly review the rules.

⇒ All family members must adhere to the rules; for instance, everyone should tidy up toys after playing.

Secure Attachment Relationships 

Through daily care, parents can gradually build a stable attachment relationship with their child by attentively responding to and addressing their child's emotional needs. These emotionally charged interactions enable children to learn to articulate their feelings and needs through the process of emotional exchange.

What is the sensory integration?

• Collect external information through seven channels including the five senses, muscles and joints, vestibular balance, etc.

• Such information will be output to the brain for process and analysis. When the process and analysis are completed, the brain will give instructions.

• The ability of the brain to perform such integration is called “sensory integration”.

Impact of insufficient stimulation of children’s “seven senses” during their growth period (sensory dysregulation)

◆ Children with tactile hypersensitivity

 • Do not like to get dirty or get their hands and feet dirty while playing.

 • Become extremely emotional when changing diapers or cleaning the nose and ears.

 • Not willing to touch soft, wet, and sticky things with their hands.

◆ Children with proprioception disorders

      • Clumsy limbs, slow movements, and easy to lose direction.

      • Inaccurate pronunciation, unclear speech, and slow language acquisition.

      • Love to bite things, grind teeth, often pat or hit themselves.

◆ Children with vestibular dysfunction

 • Dash around

 • Active, but with clumsy movements and poor accuracy

 • Not willing to run, jump or spin

 • Not fond of taking transportation, prone to motion sickness and seasickness

 • Poor balance, often fall when walking

Methods for strengthening the tactile system

1. Writing on different semi-liquids (e.g., shaving cream).
2. Gently brush the entire body with a soft brush to increase tactile input.
3. Massage the whole body often with lotion.
4. Blindfold and place different objects in the child’s hand to let him / her guess.
5. Give the child cold and hot water bottles to feel the temperature.
6. Clay play.

Suggestions to parents – 4 types of toys to promote children’s development of different abilities

1. Puzzle category: tangrams, 2D puzzles, 3D puzzles

    - Train visual focus and spatial concepts

    - Improve hand-eye coordination

    - Cultivate independent and logical thinking

2. Building blocks: wooden building blocks

    - Enhance spatial awareness

    - Stimulate creativity and imagination

3. Board games: Jenga, memory matching games

    - Learn social rules, such as waiting and taking turns

    - Train the abilities of recognising and controlling emotions

    - Promote social interaction and cooperation

4. Symbolic toys: cartoon dolls, role-playing

    - Improve language communication and expression skills

    - Promote social interaction and communication skills

    - Cultivate empathy and sense of responsibility      

Methods for strengthening the vestibular system　

1. Hold the child and tell stories in a rocking chair.
2. Stick grids on the floor to let the child play hopscotch.
3. Go to the park more often to play on swings, slides, and seesaws.

Methods for strengthening the proprioceptive system

1. Encourage the child to help with moving or lifting heavy items.
2. Push or pull to move heavy objects.
3. Let the child crawl through cardboard boxes or small tunnels.
4. Imitate animals, such as a crab walking, a frog jumping or a spider crawling.
5. Write on an upright board to exercise upper arm muscles.

Do not overly protect children. Overprotection indirectly deprives children of opportunities for development and could lead to poor sensory development.

For example:

• Keep cutting food into pieces – children have no chance to exercise their oral muscles, and they may not be able to speak clearly as they grow up.
• Always holding children for fear that they may get into danger.
• Putting children in playpens for extended periods of time which restricts children’s activity.

Content

Characteristics of early childhood learning

► Children are full of curiosity and would actively learn

► They learn by doing, enjoy using their senses to explore and understand new things

► They learn new knowledge based on existing experience and skills

The two sides of play

Playing too much

• Addiction and indulgence

• Losing oneself......

No play at all

• Suppression and isolation

• Lack of diversified development…...

Playing moderately

• Relax the body and mind

• Expressing oneself

• Promote parent-child understanding

• Enhance one’s multifaceted abilities

  Such as improving tactile sensitivity, balance, and even cooperation and problem-solving abilities......

Why play games at home?

•Because children need games!

• Because games help to build a good parent-child relationship!

• Because the home is the place where children grow up!

Types of play

1. Physical play

    Children chase and push each other in a playful way.

2. Constructive play

    Children use toys such as building blocks and modelling clay to construct things that others can recognise.

3. Dramatic play

    Children use spontaneous play to revisit and interpret their own life experiences.

4. Games with rules

    Children learn reactions and interactions through chess games, card games, and ball games.

Constructive play

• Materials with fixed shapes, such as building blocks, LEGO, tracks, snowflakes.

• Materials without fixed shapes, such as water, sand, snow, and modelling clay.

Key points of constructive play

• Willing to try

• Moderate demonstration

• Self-guiding language

   Example: "A dog has 4 legs and 1 head. How should you arrange the puzzles so that all 4 legs are here?"

• Review past experiences

   Example: "Let’s think. How does the front of a minibus we always see look?"

Games with rules (About 6-10 years old)

Definition: Add some rules to the games, require participants to follow the rules in the games or competitions.

Purpose:

• Let children continuously practise to follow rules to increase their skills in various sports or games.

• Enhance social skills through achieving goals by mutual cooperation.

Examples: musical chairs, board game, card games, chess games, ball games.

Physical play

• Tag

• Sugar beans

• Eagle catches

• Pin the tail

Key points of physical play

• Pick a suitable location

• Establish basic rules

• Demonstrate appropriate force

• Praising children for waiting patiently and using appropriate force

Dramatic play (About 2-6 years old)

Definition: Play to simulate and revisit various situations in real life.

Purpose: Use simulation plays to increase children’s imagination and incorporate situations to involve movements/language/social interactions that can train their bodies.

Game Content: Find symbolic objects to replace certain objects in real life, pretending to be someone / pretending to be something.

Examples: Ride a broom as a horse / pretend to be a princess.

Key points of dramatic play

• Discuss roles / plots with children

• Encourage children to use props

• Record plots with text or pictures

External events cause stress/threat to the adaptation system,  

such as parental divorce, maltreatment, birth of younger siblings, or starting at a new school.

Successful adaptation

Conditions required:

• Positive self-image

• Sense of security

• Close and secure relationship

Negative reactions from maladaptation

• Negative emotions (depression, anxiety, anger)

• Violent behaviours

• Physical reactions

• Unwillingness to share

• Avoidance and withdrawal

• Regression behaviours

Benefits of play therapy

In play therapy, a child "plays out" their problems and feelings, which is equivalent to an adult "voicing out" their issues and difficulties in therapy.

What is "child-centred" play therapy?

Virginia Axline advocated incorporating person-centred theory into the foundation of play therapy, and proposed non-directive play therapy or child-centred play therapy.

The most important attitude and skill during the “special playtime”

► Let the child take the lead!

► Do not ask questions or provide answers!

What toys should be used during the special playtime?

• Non-educational toys
• Non-branded/trendy
• Not easily breakable
• Non-mechanical toys
• Not competitive toys

Selection of toys and their symbolic meaning

• Soothing and everyday-life toys
• Toys for expressing anger and frustration
• Toys for building skills and abilities
• Toys for expressing creativity

Content

Learning through the senses 

Using multiple senses: hands-on with sight, hearing, touching, smell, taste

Five Senses Learning - Life (Learning to brush your teeth)

Five Senses Learning - Academics (Chinese Characters)

Multi-sensory Learning - Sight

• Use word cards, enlarge characters and show illustrations.

• Use word cards to learn to break down radicals and parts of characters.

• Use different colours to show the components of a character.

• Use colours to highlight the strokes of words to correct mistakes.

Multi-sensory Learning - Hearing

• Use music to accompany contents that need to be memorised.

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=De7KTuB_v1I

   Twinkle (up down left right version)｜Learn Chinese

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPFDQNu_oIQ

   (♬ Song of Shapes ♬ | Learn about Shapes by Singing Chinese Nursery Rhymes)

Multi-sensory Learning - Touch

• Write the word on the palm of the child's hand or on the back of the child's hand, then say the word or have the child's guess what the word is.

• Write the word on fine sand / rice / fine salt / sandpaper / flannel paper / table.

• “Write” the strokes of the word in the air, one by one.

   (only effective if movements span across the body)

• Use clay / magnetic stickers to form words or use hands to shape words.

• Have children cut out the parts of a word to make a puzzle.

Playtime to enhance parent-child relationship

Clay painting

• Parents guide children to roll the clay into different shapes / lengths / sizes / colours to enhance children's cognition.

    Colour: differentiate or mix different coloured clay; 

    Size: roll different sized pieces of clay; 

    Length: rolled strips of different lengths; 

    Quantity: rolling different quantities of ball-shaped clay; 

    Shape: rolling different shapes of clay.

• Complete the card instructions with clay according to the diagram.

Clay Learning

• Roll the clay into long strips.

• Make strokes (one colour for each stroke) and learn to make Chinese characters.

• Hold the child's hand and use his or her index finger to feel the protruding clay.

Role of Parents

• Observe carefully (children's abilities / interests / play processes)

• Give the child a chance to try

• Get rid of the criteria of success and failure

• Enjoy the play process

• Understand what makes it fun

• Recognise efforts and give praise

Why play games at home?

• Because children need games!
• Because games help to build a good parent-child relationship!
• Because the home is the place where children grow up!

Content

Positive Discipline  

• Adlerian theory of parenting

• X Punishment and Rewards

• Emphasis on 'encouragement' in parenting

• Psychologist Dr. Jane Nelson in the 1980s

• The Adlerian approach was found to have a significant positive impact on children when used by parents and teachers.

• Develop a parenting approach that incorporates communication, conflict management and mutual respect.

Elements of Positive Parenting

• Mutual respect

• Understanding the beliefs behind the behaviour

• Understanding children's development and age-appropriate behaviour

• Effective communication

• Meaningful Discipline

• Focus on solutions, not punishment

• Encouragement

Children need to 'feel' good in order to 'be' good

The Four Rs Consequences of Punishment

Basic Adlerian concepts

• The child's main goal is to have a sense of belonging and value

• Misbehaving children are frustrated children

• Equality

• Target-driven behaviour

• Mistakes are the best opportunity to learn

• Confirming messages of love

Content

The importance of forming friendships in the development of young children 

• The world of children and their peers is the main place where they build their character.

• Lack of positive social interaction during childhood can lead to withdrawal, isolation, distress and anxiety in later life.

• Children not being accepted by their peers at an early age is also a problem that can lead to school dropout, psychological and behavioural problems later in life(Annual Review of Psychology).

Social and interpersonal patterns of young children

1）Self-centeredness

Young children learn about the world from their own ideas and perspectives. They are not able to think outside of themselves and put themselves in other people's shoes to imagine how they think and feel.

2）Principle of reciprocity

The children's relationship is based on the reciprocal principle of "if you give me candy, I'll lend you a toy".

3）Splitting up and getting back together

Relationships in young children are fragile and friendships can be broken at any time by the slightest thoughtless word or action, and friendships can be formed at any time by someone showing concern and lending a helping hand.

Does your child have imaginary friends?

• Until the age of four, many children have imaginary playmates
• Child or animal, possibly a cloth doll
• Children may imagine them being friends/protectors/venting objects
• Allow children to learn to deal with different social situations in a safe environment
• Help them learn to think, regulate their emotions and, more importantly, develop and apply basic social skills in their daily lives

How do parents deal with their children's imaginary friends?

1. Understanding children's feelings through imaginary playmates

• Pay attention to conversations between children and imaginary playmates.

  For example, parents can find out if their child is afraid to see the doctor when they are soothing the cloth doll on the way to the doctor's office.

• Talking directly to the cloth doll to help the child understand and encourage him or her to express his/her feelings.

2. Facilitating good behaviour through imaginary playmates

• Use imaginary playmates as role models to trigger motivation for children to behave well

• If your child refuses to take a bath: "Fluffy takes a bath every day, and if you don't like to be clean, he'll think you stink and won't want to play with you."

• If your child won't eat fruit or vegetables, give a small amount to the cloth doll

"Flora may not have eaten carrots before, but Flora wants to try some! Wow, it tastes good!"

Common peer-to-peer problems and how to deal with them

What can I do if my child is very shy?

• Avoid sarcastic language and give more encouragement

• Understand that shyness is a personality trait, not a defect, and let your child learn to engage with others slowly

Social skills for young children that need to be improved

• Constantly talking about their interests, often changing the subject
• Can't read other people's non-verbal expressions
• Don't understand the meaning behind what people say
• Don't understand how people think and feel
• Difficult to see things from someone else's point of view
• No organisation or plan when doing things

How can I help my child to integrate into the groups?

• Observe first, then integrate
• Parents can start by observing what other people are playing with their children

• During the course, parents give guidance (how to make the game more fun for everyone when they join in)

Content

Eight important social skills 

Skill 1：Identify and understand the emotions of others, communicate verbally and non-verbally

Skill 2：Recognise the impact of their behaviour on others and their surroundings

Verbal and Non-verbal communication

• Sometimes, children may not be able to understand all the instructions given by adults, but they are good at observing the gestures and gaze of adults to understand the situation with the information of their surroundings.

• Young children enter the language communication stage where they begin to learn to integrate non-verbal and linguistic communication messages.

     ► If the parent says to the child, “Do it again!”

      Literally, the child is supposed to repeat the actions just mentioned, but when the parent speaks in a short, stern tone, raises his or her voice, expresses displeasure and crosses his or her arms, the child who is aware of these non-verbal messages will understand that he or she has made the parent angry and will not dare to do so again.

Non-verbal communication

• Body language (e.g., facial expressions, eye gaze, body movements and social distance)
• Sub-language (e.g., tone, volume, speed)
• Facial expressions: emotions of joy, anger, sadness and indifference, dissatisfaction, recognition, etc.
• Eye gaze: tracking what the other person is looking at so that we can establish a common focus and communicate smoothly and effectively.
• Body movements: reflect our internal state of mind, e.g., tense body means nervousness.

Skill 3：Understand and respect the views of others

Skill 4：Learn how to resolve conflicts and contradictions

Children aged 2-6 are still in a self-centred stage and tend to think from their own perspective. They are not able to understand things from other people's standpoint, which leads to endless arguments. This is an inevitable process in children's development and interaction with others.

Parent's role:

1) You can let them work it out on their own first to enhance their ability to communicate and solve problems together.

2) When a child is unable to solve a problem on his or her own, parents should intervene and listen patiently to the child's account of what happened.

3) It is not advisable to jump to conclusions before understanding the cause of the conflict. Through dialogue, children can try to understand other people's views and thoughts, understand other people's feelings and learn respect and social skills when dealing with others.

Video appreciation

1) Clearly identify what the child has done wrong

2) Tell your child how this affects others

3) Show the child how he or she can achieve the same goal

4) Show the child what can be done to make up for the mistake now

5) Build logical consequences and empathy

（ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=abxoL192twQ&t=234s）

Skill 7：Reduced impulse behaviour adjustment

Impulse control training

1) Communication: encourage your child to talk about their feelings

2) Memory: remember causes and consequences

3) Role models: who your child learns from

4) Exercise: regular exercise

Training game

Everyday life - shopping activities

1) Decide with your child at home which items to buy at the supermarket or market and write them down, then go shopping together and train your child to ask the staff for the location of the items if necessary to develop independence.

2) Through shopping activities, children can learn the names of objects and categorise them, as well as develop their memory and communication skills.

Skill 8：Enhancing self-confidence and self-esteem

Conclusion

Human beings are herd animals and socialisation is a necessary skill.

Developing children's social skills from an early age will be beneficial to their future personality development and interpersonal interactions. There are 4 major steps parents can take:

1) Observe and imitate

2) Practice from games

3) Practical exercises

4) Give positive feedback

Develop the ability to get along with others and equip children with positive interpersonal skills.

(2) Invite your child to join the conversation

1. When guests come to visit the family, parents can invite their children to join the conversation and teach them the right way to get along with others.

2. Parents may wish to ask their child, "Would you like to sit down and talk to your uncle or aunt for a while?" Parents should point out to the child that the conversation should not just be about him or her, but that everyone else should have a chance to speak as well, and that if the child agrees, he or she can formally join in.

3. Adults sometimes need to accommodate children by talking about things that children can understand or know/slowing down a bit/allowing time for children to express their views/not laughing when children say ridiculous ideas or comments.

Content

Children Home Safety

• According to statistics, home accidents are most frequent among children aged 0-5.
• Children have not fully understood what is dangerous yet.
• The activity range of children aged 3-5 gradually expands, making them prone to accidents such as falls, collisions, and scalds.
• If a child is injured in an accident, seek medical attention as soon as possible.
• Most home accidents can be prevented.
• Be vigilant about potential home hazards and regularly conduct safety inspections.
• Do not leave children alone at home.
• Teach children accurate knowledge about home safety.

Preventing Home Accidents - Safety Strategies

Safety Strategies 1

• Preventing falls

Recommendations:

✓ Keep the floor dry.

✓ Properly store miscellaneous items.

✓ Secure carpets to prevent slipping.

✓ Store sharp objects, medications, and cleaning supplies safely to prevent children from accessing them.

Safety Strategies 2

• Avoiding collisions with objects

Recommendations:

✓ Keep items properly arranged.

✓ Store miscellaneous items appropriately.

✓ Use furniture with rounded corners or plastic corner protectors.

Safety Strategies 3

• Preventing slips in the bathroom

Recommendations:

✓ Keep the floor dry to prevent slipperiness.

✓ Do not store water in bathtubs, sinks, or buckets when not in use.

✓ Keep toilet seat covers closed.

✓ Avoid leaving children alone in the bathroom.

Safety Strategies 4

• Preventing accidents caused by curiosity about the outside view through windows

Recommendations:

✓ Install safety window bars.

✓ Properly secure curtain cords.

Safety Strategies 5

• Preventing falls from beds

Recommendations:

✓ Parents should sleep near the edge of the bed.

✓ Install bed rails.

Safety Strategies 6

• Avoiding scalds from touching hot food

Recommendations:

✓ Install barriers at the entrance to the kitchen.

✓ Do not allow children to enter the kitchen unaccompanied.

✓ Avoid using tablecloths as children may pull on them.

Safety Strategies 7

• Preventing finger injuries from doors

Recommendations:

✓ Use magnets to secure doors or use door finger guards.

Safety Strategies 8

✓ Properly store all foldable furniture in the house, such as folding chairs and tables.

✓ Check if safety locks are properly engaged.

Safety Strategies 9

• Preventing electric shocks

Recommendations:

✓ Ensure electrical appliances meet safety standards.

✓ Cover electrical outlets and securely close drawers.

Home First Aid Kit

1. Saline solution, adhesive tape

2. Bandages, such as gauze

3. Cotton balls for cleaning utensils with disinfectant

4. Triangle bandage

5. Bandages

6. Safety pins or medical adhesive tape for securing bandages

7. Disinfectant alcohol for disinfecting utensils, not for direct application to wounds

Conclusion

• Parents should remain vigilant.
• Do not leave children alone at home or rely on older siblings for supervision.
• Teach children appropriate safety knowledge at the right time and prevent them from intentionally "challenging" crises out of curiosity when parents are not paying attention.