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Providing the tools -

Providing words to children for them to be able to express how they feel, beyond common feelings like sadness and happiness, is vital for their future mental health.

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The sad alternative -

We need to be able to draw on a large pool of words to express ourselves so we’re not forced into emotional cages.

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Maintaining relationships -

Also, we need to be able to sense and understand the emotions of others to be able to maintain relationships.

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A necessity for connection -

For example, if a child cannot understand the emotional cues of how other children around them are feeling, they will fail in their attempts to connect with them.

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Socialization -

However, if children can understand emotions and the emotional vocabulary that goes with them, they can respond appropriately.

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For development in adulthood -

In this way, it’s a huge part of a child’s (or adult’s) development and social success.

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Emotional oracy -

The combined skills of being able to identify emotions and being able to respond to them are what forms emotional oracy.

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It's not innate -

Unfortunately, these skills are not innate. This is why we have to teach children through positive reinforcement how they can acceptably behave around others.

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Exercises -

Certain exercises are often very helpful in aiding people to develop emotional language to better express and understand their feelings.

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Given a situation, how might someone feel if...? -

One situation may be that a computer is slow or keeps failing, and asking that child to express how it might make a person feel and what the person might say (besides cursing).

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"How might a person feel when...?" -

Children or adults can be given different scenarios that may evoke specific emotions and be asked to identify the emotions that a person may feel.

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Asking the student to teach/explain -

One way that people can learn more emotional vocabulary is through teaching it themselves.

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Writing out a long list of possible feelings (children) -

Children can benefit hugely by sitting down and writing out a large list of feelings that they can think of. If anything, it can remind them of the range they can feel.

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Accompanying feelings with drawings -

To take this exercise even further, you can draw a face that goes with each feeling and explain a situation where the feeling may come up.

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Accompanying feelings with noises -

A great activity that is best suited for children is to add sounds to their list of feelings. For example, a child may not understand the word “worried,” but may be better able to understand it if it’s associated with “uh-oh.”

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Similar to how we teach the names of animals -

This can be made into a game where children have to associate a sound with a feeling (like how you can teach children the names of animals by making sounds like barking or mooing).

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Expanding our vocabulary in general -

A person’s level of emotional vocabulary will be heavily linked with their general vocabulary, so we must develop a general vocabulary, too.

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Reading -

With regards to developing our emotional vocabulary and vocabulary in general, the single most effective activity is reading.

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Emotional charades -

Emotional charades are fun games that are suitable for children and can work for adults too if they’re open enough. But how does it work?

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It often sparks a dialogue -

Instead of conveying a movie, one will have to try to act out someone frustrated and the rest of the players will have to guess. It can spark dialogue about how certain emotions are conveyed, too.

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Another game for children -

Another activity that is great for children is playing a game with the song ‘If You’re Happy and You Know It.’ You can come up with different variations of the phrase using the lyrics, like “if you’re agreeable and you know it say ‘okay.'”

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Linking a trait with a behavior -

This gets children thinking about what the trait or feeling may mean in terms of someone’s temperament and behavior.

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Feelings collage -

A feelings collage is another exercise for people looking to expand their emotional awareness and vocabulary. It’s best for children, and can be hung up somewhere visible afterward.

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Keeping journals -

Keeping a journal allows people to explore, express, and look back at their emotions over time, and is seriously beneficial in this task.

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Journaling simply works -

Next to reading, this is probably the most beneficial way that a person can explore and develop their emotional vocabulary in the long run.

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Role-playing -

Role-playing is another fantastic way in which people can develop their emotional vocabulary. This is often best done in a setting with a professional (such as a teacher).

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Reviewing -

There is also reviewing. This is the process of going over situations that didn’t end well. Maybe it was a fight and perhaps the individual can explore what they would have done differently and how it may have produced a different outcome.

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It's a journey -

We all have different levels of emotional vocabulary and emotional intelligence. There are activities for everyone at every level to activate this part of ourselves so that we continue to develop our ability to effectively interact with others and understand ourselves.

Sources: (Parentkind) (Ecole Globale)

See also: Are you emotionally intelligent? Here's how to tell

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