emotional development and self-regulation

Identify, name, and express their own emotions. Children learn to recognize and talk about their feelings, using words like happy, sad, surprised, frustrated, angry, and scared. They learn appropriate ways to express their feelings, like smiling, laughing, crying, dancing, singing, and drawing. They come to understand that their feelings can change over time or in different situations and that they can have more than one feeling at the same time.

Regulate their emotions. Children learn to cope with and manage strong feelings appropriately. They become aware of clues inside their bodies to tell the difference between comfortable and uncomfortable feelings. They learn to use calming down strategies such as belly breathing to work through uncomfortable feelings in stressful or emotional situations.

Regulate their behavior. Children control themselves in stressful and emotional situations. They may use self-regulation strategies such as self-talk, counting, or singing.

Demonstrates self-control. Children resist a strong inclination to do one thing (overcoming an automatic response) and instead do what is most appropriate.