Growing emotional regulation skills for life
- Kidsfirst
- Jun 17, 2021
- 2 min read
Inspiring Award Winner – Kidsfirst Cotswold Avenue
The early 2020 COVID-19 lockdown period created stress, anxiety and uncertainty for all.
As life returned to normal, Kidsfirst Cotswold Ave kaiako noticed some tamariki were still struggling with heightened emotions, and they were becoming difficult for them to express.
Extra support was needed - so the team decided to focus on emotional awareness, and regulation skills, embedding teaching strategies to help the children become more self-aware, share their feelings, better communicate their needs, and in turn, recognise those of others.
It didn’t take long for the results to show.
“Tamariki became more aware, empathetic, caring, and regulated, and there was a real essence of manaakitanga (kindness),” says Kidsfirst Cotswold Ave Head Teacher, Adele Puddy.
“They were caring for each other in the playground, offering hugs, tissues and bringing their friends in for an ice pack when needed. We saw children using strategies throughout the day to calm themselves with breath work, and they have been using sign language to express their feelings.”
The changes may have initially come as a response to an especially hard time, but they have stuck.
“Tamariki are now using more expressive language building – for example – it’s evolving from sad or happy, to frustrated, annoyed, excited or surprised. They have also connected these words and ideas with te reo Māori, and New Zealand Sign Language. Children have made breathing techniques part of their day and we see them initiating this themselves.”
The impact of this goes well beyond the kindergarten gates
“All of the Kidsfirst Cotswold Ave whānau were involved – teachers, children, and their families.”
“We worked together and learned from one another by sharing our knowledge, passion, and learning. We loved hearing that our tamariki were taking home new language and strategies, feeling confident and comfortable to share this outside of the programme - this showed us that it was embedded in their daily practice and that it resonated with them.”
Our thanks to Tredsafe for their generous support of this year’s Inspiring award.