The Power of Parenting

Thursday, 24 September 2020

Emotional Development: 19 to 24 Months

Emotional Development means the development of a full range of emotions from sad to happy to angry, and learning to deal with them appropriately. This helps build self-esteem and leads to such deeper qualities as sympathy, caring, resiliency, assertiveness and empathy and the ability to rise to life’s challenges.
Typical Skills
  • Beginning to develop a range of emotions; is subject to mood swings and tantrums; shows some aggressive tendencies, e.g., biting and hitting
  • Shows concern for others
  • Shows fears, but can be settled down
  • Is pulled between the need to show independence and still being dependent for certain things
  • Still cautious around unfamiliar adults i.e. allows self to be drawn into play with a new adult as long as a familiar person is nearby
Emerging Skills
  • Uses words such as “no” a lot
  • Shares a piece of food
  • Familiar with routines and the order of the day; is unhappy about any changes in routine and likes to do things the same way each day
  • Develops a sense of comfort or fear with different experiences and objects, e.g., fear of the dark

Comfort
If you do this:

  • Recognize and name your child’s emotions, e.g., “Your crying tells me you are sad”
  • Suggest ways to deal with her feelings, e.g., “When you feel angry, come and get a grown-up for help”
  • Learn the words to use when talking about feelings
  • Feel comforted and supported to see there are ways to deal with her emotions
Play
If you do this:

  • Sing songs that use emotion words, e.g., “If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands”
  • Read stories that explore different emotions and discuss them simply from the character’s perspective
  • Begin to associate certain emotions with behaviours
  • Begin to see what can make other sad, happy, angry, etc.
Teach
If you do this:

  • Notice when your child is frustrated and step in to help him deal with his emotions
  • Offer your child different choices to help him cope with his feelings
  • Know he can rely on you to help him cope with his emotions
  • Begin to develop some strategies to deal with his emotions