As the West Wing children have been playing the “Sign Language Game”, we have noticed them closely observing pictures of their peers expressing emotions. One morning, we provided mirrors, paper, and pens and we took new pictures to add to the Game and to facilitate the discussion of their feelings.
MJ: (Drawing her daddy) My daddy is being mad. My mommy always be silly because she throws me on my mommy’s bed. I feel happy. Daddy cries for pretend. Only mommy feels grumpy.
Everly looks in the mirror and tilts her head, furrows her eye brows, and draws her sad face. She wants to take a picture of her expression.
Olive and Dashiell both draw sad faces.
Olive: I feel cry when MJ draws on my Laker shirt.
Juliette: I feel sad at my house sometimes when my mommy goes. I feel mad sometimes when someone take things from me. I feel happy when mommy does not go.
MJ draws two lines going down a person’s sad face and does the sign for crying which is two index fingers going down from the eyes.
Everly: I feel mad right now.
The ability to label, express, and read emotions is a life skill and helps develop emotionally healthy people. Emotional intelligence is one of the tools to building an emotionally responsive community. This work of helping the children correctly label their feelings supports moments of conflict when we ask the children questions like: “How did you feel when that happened?”, “What do you think he/she is feeling?”, “How would you feel if that happened to you?”, and “Do you notice (some feature/expression/non verbal cue)?” Soon the children will begin to ask themselves these questions and practice empathy. And of course, empathy can only happen when we are connected to our own feelings so we can relate or sympathize with someone else’s. -Teacher Jennifer