Face Value

During learning time Declan and I decided to get in touch with our emotions (no, we didn't sit around holding each other and crying over our cups of Mocha Chai Latte).

We talked about the different kinds of emotions that people experience and with the help of these super duper flash cards we were able to do a bunch of different exercises.

Obviously, the first would be to discuss the emotions individually, but rather than listing and explaining, I'd show him the emotion card and tell him a situation: Billy took your toy and threw it on the floor, breaking it...you'd feel...mad? more than mad...angry. That way he'd become familiar with scenarios for each and the differences between the emotions.

Then it came time for the game. I laid out all of the emotion cards and then gave him a scenario.
I wake up in the morning and I'm just not happy. everyone had better stay out of my way today: grumpy
All of my friends went home for the day and I wish I had someone to play with: lonely
I've decided to be an actor in a play and tonight is opening night where everyone comes to watch me: nervous

But it didn't stop there. Once he guessed my scenario and was able to put the card on his pile, I had him tell me a situation where he'd feel or where he'd felt that emotion.

And as an added bonus, we came up with a list of things to do when you're feeling an emotion other than normal:

1. ask yourself, "What am I feeling inside?"
2. "Why am I feeling this way?"
3. "What is something i can do to change the way I'm feeling?"
4. Do what you decided in number 3

All in all it was a very good exercise. The flash cards helped him identify his emotions, talking about them helped him understand that everyone feels that way at some point and using the list above can help him control himself and explain his emotions (rather than hitting or screaming).

Here's a list of the emotions/feelings I came up with:
Happy
Angry
Silly
Nervous
Normal
Sad
Scared
Mad
Frustrated
Lonely
Grumpy
Tired