Those who have been following our recent book club reading of Siblings Without Rivalry might recall that in my first reflection on the book I mentioned making a poster for our playroom which would serve as a reminder to both myself and Immy (and when she is bigger, AJ as well) of ways of dealing appropriately with (what we call) big emotions, such as anger, frustration or jealousy. My aim was to take the four strategies shared by the authors, Faber & Mazlish, in Section 2 and reword them in language appropriate for young children. This is what I came up with;
Feel free to download the poster to print out for you own family.
To download and print: The poster is available in an A4 sized document here. To print, you may need to select “Fit to printable area” (or similar) depending upon your printer type and paper size.
For those who are new to Childhood 101, feel free to check out our bookclub. Siblings Without Rivalry is a really quick and easy read for parents. If you can get your hands on a copy if you still not too late to join in. You can find out more here;
- Siblings Without Rivalry bookclub introduction
- Siblings Without Rivalry reflections on sections 1 & 2
- Siblings Without Rivalry reflections on sections 3 & 4
P.S. Bookclub members – don’t forget to leave your impressions on sections 3 & 4 if you haven’t already done so
How do you help your children manage BIG emotions?
Christie Burnett is a teacher, presenter, writer and the mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to access engaging, high quality learning ideas.
When my kids were little I had read Siblings without Rivalry and me and my husband decided it was time for a meeting with my 4 oldest to discuss their fighting. The oldest was 9. We got them together and I started explaining to them that we were having a hard time living with them due to the fighting (and we needed to come up with a solution.) Whereupon my 5 yr old son face in hands says to us “so why’d you have us babies”?
LOL I love how children see the world 🙂
This post is particularly relevant as I am experiencing some challenging situations with my three year old and my 16 month old. My MCHN recommended another Faber classic- how to talk so kids will listen etc. I read with interest but felt sure it wouldn’t help our situation as my boys are so young. Imagine my surprise when last night at bath time my eldest, noticing his younger brother had his monkey face washer, started tearfully saying ‘I see a little boy with a monkey face washer, I’m sure we can work this out!’ Normally this situation would have ended with snatching and tears, far less agreeable! i think I will have to read siblings without rivalry too!
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