Early childhood: let the children control their emotion

 

- Ninta, Angkita and Jasmine were on their way home in a school bus. They were classmates in kindergarten and felt very happy cause someone had given them balloons. The three happy girls sat nicely. Too bad, it was not for long. Angkita caused Jasmine's balloon exploded accidentally. The latter burst into tears. She further tried to reach Angkita's balloon but Angkita avoided her and cried too. "I'll give you a new balloon tomorrow, but please don't take mine", she said. The two girls continued to quarrel and cry.
Being unable to take Angkita's balloon, Jasmine turned to the third innocent girl and grabbed her balloon away. -
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Ninta told me the story in a funny way ten years later and we laughed together. She further explained that she actually wanted to cry too once her balloon was stolen from her. However, she decided to hold back her tears. "I cried but only in my heart at that time cause I didn't want to be like my two friends quarreling and crying out loudly".

A little child is capable to control his or her emotion. I think, it's important that parents guide their children step by step to be able to think logically rather than crying when something unpleasant happen to them.

There were also some occasions when Ninta's little sister - Rania - requested for new toys which I didn't agree while we were in a mall. How did I stop her from repeatedly asking me to buy new toys for her?

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I once asked her to check together the price of the toys, then I simply explained to her that the toys were expensive. I kept on talking to her:

"...If we buy that toy, we will not have any money left..."

"...We still have to buy food for tomorrow, right?...."

and so on until the little girl finally agreed.