Do they seem more upset and tearful, with a wobbly bottom lip and a sad little face? Well, it’s hard for them to be brave all the time and sometimes we might try to cheer them up with a lot of, ‘ooh, don’t cry’, or, ‘please, don’t be sad’. We want children and adults alike, to laugh it off or, ‘snap out of it’ and pull themselves out of the doldrums quickly. So, where do all these sad feelings go if they can’t be released? Well they will stew and stew and boil over into something possibly not so healthy.
Sometimes a good cry does us all a world of good. It helps lower our blood pressure and gives a sense of relief. ‘Letting it all out’ is really good for us and helps us to feel lighter and move on.
We can all ‘see more clearly now the rain has gone’. So letting your child have a cry or get in touch with all the ‘sad stew’ feelings, especially if they are ‘boiling over’, lets them be more emotionally connected. They will have a far more developed sense of ‘self’, a deeper understanding of their needs and further develop their emotional intelligence. A healthy emotional child will be less likely to suffer emotional setbacks in later life.
