It is possible to manage child’s behaviour if observing and noticing his emotional state.
Just visualise child’s psyche as an “iceberg” which is very strong from one side but can melt down if affected by the heat.
This “iceberg” has 3 zones:
GREEN ZONE at a very bottom- big and strong foundation
YELLOW ZONE in the middle – not as strong and not as weak
and RED ZONE at the very top – fragile tip of “iceberg”.
So, when your child is in GREEN ZONE, he is in good stable condition and is able to listen, learn and follow directions. It is a strong base for quality communication and learning.
When the child reaches YELLOW ZONE, it is when there is a disagreement or some irritation. During that stage it is still possible to distract the child and “return back ” to green zone.
However, when the child reaches RED ZONE, when the child is on peak of his emotions it is absolutely waste of time to try to come him down with words or actions. He is just not able to hear and take in any information. The adults job at that moment is to stay calm, and just watch your child silently, so he will not harm himself and stay safe. LET HIM TO SELF-REGULATE and come back to green zone !!!
Importance of self-regulation
P.S. Do not forget to have educational, life skills teaching talks with your child when he is back to green zone to avoid escalation of a similar situation next time
