How To Deal With Kids and Emotions

Finding this cute note in my journal this morning inspired this post on how do deal with kids and emotions, after all it is a trial and error process!

Back in the fall we were having some kids issues with emotions and how to deal with them.  My life coach suggested the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?.  And it worked wonders, I found out a month later that her teacher was also implementing it in the classroom so not only were we practicing the tools at home but they were also doing it at school!  The tools we use at home are doing something nice for each other and sharing our bucket filler stories at dinner each night, this all made a huge improvement and helped Cheyenne understand her emotions a lot better.

A quick summary of t he book is that teaches you that everyone has an invisible bucket and when we are nice to people it fills their buck and makes them happy; but, when we decide to bully or be mean we are steal from the bucket.  There are some great tools at: Bucket Fillers.

We decided to take it all one step further, because that's what I do!  We had a craft afternoon and made buckets for everyone in the house, we leave little notes, thank-yous, or prizes for each other to brighten our day!

These are pretty simple to make all you need is a pieces of paper, some ribbon or string, a whole punch, crayons, and scissors!  I used the old “drinking cup” folding pattern from when I was a kid, don't ask me why I remember because I don't know myself.  I made a little printable up for you (in pdf format), grab it Bucket Folding Instructions!

What do you do in your home to promote sharing emotions and showing respect for others?  I'd love to hear your ideas!