Start Sharing Your Feelings With Your Kids: 3 Key Reasons + Tips 

Authenticity is one of the most important parts of healthy relationships. This means being honest with each other and accepting each other’s flaws go hand in hand. Being genuine in a relationship fosters intimacy, candor, trust, and acceptance.

Providing the connection is founded on real purpose, there is no need for someone to filter out the elements of themselves that may not make them seem « perfect » to the other person. 

There is not a single individual who does not sometimes feel depressed, irritable, angry, or afraid. Occasionally, these emotions get a firm hold and last for a while.

Even though you’re feeling a lot of different things, your kids are probably watching everything you do. They may not know the specifics, but they are intelligent and would certainly recognize when your outside does not match your inside. 

It makes sense that we would want to protect your kids from the bad parts of growing up. A new study suggests that putting on a constant smile and masking your emotions may not be healthy for yourself or your children. The research found that parents who « try to be perfect » for their kids are more likely to be less happy, have weaker relationships with their kids, and be less aware of what their kids need.

As parents, one of our most essential responsibilities is to cultivate our children’s understanding of uncomfortable emotions and guide them through dealing with their inner feelings.  

What do big emotions look like? What do they think? What is their meaning? How do I approach them? What if these muddled emotions belong to someone I love? 

These are all questions we’ve asked ourselves at least once in our lives. As kids, these questions revolve around creating an identity for oneself and answering the question, « Who am I, and where do I fit? » 

Understanding the relationship between children and emotions

According to a study conducted by the NCBI, the notion that emotions hold value, reflects knowledge and acceptance of them. Parents who think it’s important for kids to share their feelings say that both good and bad feelings give kids chances to learn and grow.

Parents who don’t value emotions are more likely to coach their children’s emotions, while parents who value both positive and negative emotions may create environments that are more open to, sensitive to, and accepting of their children’s emotions. So, these beliefs may give children the chance to learn how to recognize and talk about their own and other people’s feelings. 

In contrast, parents who believe that frequent or powerful emotional experiences are harmful or hazardous for their children may try to protect their children from seeing their own emotional experiences by hiding or masking their own emotions. Initially, this may reduce the number of chances for children to learn about emotions.

With time, though, this may change as kids try harder to figure out what their parents are feeling and thinking because their emotions are getting harder to read. In the research on how expressive families are, this pattern has been seen: when children are very young, there is a link between how expressive their parents are and how well they can recognize emotions. 

However, this relationship starts to change when children are in elementary school, and it becomes more negative over time. The change means that kids whose parents aren’t as expressive are better able to understand how other people are feeling than kids whose parents are more expressive.

Nevertheless, there is a major gap between being able to recognize others’ feelings and being able to articulate their own. This means that being raised by an emotionally distant parent or guardian may result in a lifetime of unstable connections, unsuccessful relationships, or emotional neediness as an adult. 

Tips to improve the relationship between your child, you, and emotions  

According to The Pillars, the relationship between a parent and a child is one of the strongest and most real a person can ever have, and they believe that the following practices, when used consistently, can strengthen your bond with your child:  

• Always demonstrate your affection for your children

Every parent must tell their children that they love them. This may seem quite simplistic, but it’s essential. Children must always feel cherished and protected. Regardless of their age, make it a point to let them know you love them as they grow up. Despite arguments and misunderstandings, make them feel unconditionally loved. 

• Give them your focus

Busy schedules are not and should never be an excuse for not spending sufficient time with your child. Always devote time and focus to them. Take the time to sit with them as they play with their toys, watch television, or eat their food. Simply converse with them, engage them in play, and offer them your complete attention.

• Create rituals and customs

Developing rituals and customs enhances a child’s sense of safety. Develop routines that will last a lifetime when they are still young. For instance, you may set rituals for bedtime. Before putting them to bed at night, read them books.

Then, set up a weekly family routine where you do the same thing every weekend, like a family meal on Sunday or a movie night on Saturday. No matter how old they are or what their traditions are, you should always do things with your family that bring them closer together.

Closing Thoughts 

When it comes to the relationship between you and your child, there are instances where disagreements are likely to arise, and this often increases with age. Permissive parenting is becoming more popular because people think that giving kids more freedom makes them more responsible and independent.

SuzyApp believes that every child deserves to have the freedom to explore what they want to learn, how they want to learn and for how long. With the help of psychological concepts of ‘delayed gratification’, we allow the sequencing of educational and recreational applications on devices, helping children and parents be healthier about their screen time.

SuzyApp redirects children to use a learning application for a certain amount of time before switching to a recreational game as a reward for learning something new. Our philosophy oversees all the above aspects of parenting, and strongly believes in allowing freedom of expression and exploration, by making screen time healthier for children. To learn more about us, download our app or visit our website.