Unit Konsultasi Psikologi (UKP) on Wednesday (16/06) held the 6th event of UKP Bersinergi UKP Berbagi with the topic “The Art of Embracing Children’s Emotions”. The event was held online with Ismu Chandra Kurniawati, M.Psi., a psychologist as resource person. The event started with resource persons showing the participants an interactive platform to share how they feel today through pictures that show certain emotions. “Whatever feelings you are experiencing right now are valid. There is neither right nor wrong. That is indeed something that you are experiencing right now and it is actually something that is important to us,” explained Ismu.
When a person tries to find out what he really feels he is also trying to connect with himself and is trying to recognize his condition. Once someone knows what emotion they are feeling, the question that arises is what should we do with that emotion. For adults, these questions tend to be easy to answer, but what about children?
In fact, children have emotions since they were born, but children need adults to regulate these emotions. Unfortunately, not all adults can help children to regulate their emotions. There are parents who underestimate and even mock when their child is experiencing angry emotions. There are also parents who consider their children’s emotions unimportant and even refuse to listen when they are on strike or refuse to do something. “That’s where the importance of understanding, embracing, and then managing children’s emotions,” explained Ismu.
There are several proper ways to regulate emotions. First, you have to know the emotional component first. Emotions consist of three components, namely expressive behavior, changes in physical sensations, and subjective experiences. After knowing the three components, the next step is to manage. From the component of expressive behavior, it can be seen whether the behavior displayed when displaying certain emotions is classified as dangerous or not. Then, in terms of physical changes in adults, it can help explain that children tremble when angry or when they are afraid to sweat more. This can help children to connect with their physical condition when experiencing certain emotions. Finally, adults can help to reflect subjective experiences in the emotions they feel. However, doing emotional reflection when the children are calm.
The goal of embracing emotions is not to get rid of the emotions of anger, sadness, fear, and other uncomfortable emotions. Nor is the goal of embracing emotions to make you feel good all the time. However, the goal of embracing emotions is to allow children to feel each emotion in a safe situation, manage the mind and body so that emotions become best friends that support continued growth. In addition, the process of embracing emotions need not be compared to others.