How to encourage children to express their feelings

Learn about: How to encourage children to express their feelings from Kim DeMarchi, MEd, CPE,...
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How to encourage children to express their feelings

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Many adults as children were not allowed to express their feelings. We were told don't cry, I will give you something to cry about. Now today we want to invite our children to express their feelings. We want to have a communicative relationship with our children. Feeling stoppers are tools that parents sometimes use that put a stop to their children sharing their feelings. Feelings are simply feelings, they are not good, they are not bad, they just are. When a child comes to us and we use tactics such as scolding, reprimanding, ignoring, sarcasm, teasing, punishing, any of those things, it immediately stops that child from wanting to come to you next time and wanting to share feelings. A feeling encourager on the other hand, invites expression from our children; listening, looking at them, eye contact, empathizing with them, validating their feelings. All of those things invite expression from your children and that's what we want because when our children are teenagers and older, we want to have that kind of open dialogue with our children.

Learn about: How to encourage children to express their feelings from Kim DeMarchi, MEd, CPE,...

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Kim DeMarchi, MEd, CPE

Parent Educator

is an Oregon resident, in the United States, with 18 year old boy/girl twins in the Tigard Tualatin School District, and has been an educator for almost three decades. She began her career as an elementary school teacher for 12 years, then worked as an elementary school administrator for 6 years, and then decided to dedicate herself to teaching parenting classes and workshops exclusively. Kim is trained and certified through a program called Positive Discipline by Jane Nelsen, as well by the International Network for Children and Families, in a program called Redirecting Children‘s Behavior. She also has taken recent trainings in the areas of Youth Mental Health First Aid, Adult Mental Health First Aid, ACES (Adverse Childhood Experiences), ASIST (Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training), Trauma Informed Care, Smart Voices/Smart Choices: Parents Talking with Kids about Mental Wellness and Substance Use, and Making the Connection: Stress, Teen Brains & Building Resilience. Kim is active in supporting her local parenting community by providing workshops, classes, coaching families and writing monthly articles for two local newspapers Tualatin Times and Tigard Times. Kim is a monthly guest on KATU's Afternoon Live and an occasional guest on KATU's AM Northwest television show doing parenting segments. Kim also reaches thousands internationally through her close to one hundred 30 minute parenting podcasts found on her website. Additionally, Kim recently made her fifth trip to Asia during the last few years to teach and share her passion in raising cooperative, respectful, resilient and responsible children. Kim’s goal for you is to help reduce conflict, foster mutual respect, and create deeper communication and connections with your loved ones.

You can reach Kim and her resources at her website:

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