How many colleagues can you count that are brilliant communicators, set expectations far in advance, rarely get frustrated, never have knee jerk reactions... and are able to quickly articulate their needs, while understanding & meeting the needs of everyone around them? When I ask this question, it is often met with a little bit of laughter - yet we hold our own kids, whose brains are still developing, to a standard we often can’t live up to ourselves!
Understanding what level of emotion regulation children are capable of will help us to really understand, listen and empathize with our child so we can help guide them through their own feelings and needs - while meet our own needs as well.