Transparency Tuesday: Regulating emotions

I am so thankful for the progress that Jeremiah has gone through in relation to regulating and addressing his emotions.

He has come a long way... when he was younger he would throw things.. bite, scream, bang his head, slap himself, pinch, spit, kick.. throw himself on the floor... Yeah... it was a lot.

Out of that list, he still slaps himself and screams.. but he screams words now and not inaudible words/sounds. 

He has really struggled with his emotions; and I have realized he is an emotional child.. he certainly knows how to show when he's upset or angry, but doesn't know how to address it or regulate it by himself.

With a lot of modelling, patience, meltdowns.... and all of it in between we have reached a good place. One morning I told Jeremiah that he has to eat his breakfast, then he can play on his tablet before we leave for school. He didn't want to eat breakfast.. he wanted to go on the tablet. I kept on repeating what I said... and he got upset. Started shouting 'No mummy', screaming, hitting on the rubbish bin, crying...

I didn't pay attention to it.

In about 2 or 3 minutes, he stopped. Tears were still flowing down his face.. he started wiping his face and sat down. I asked him do you want to eat something? He said 'Yes'.

Fast forward to us on the bus making our way to school.. Jeremiah pats me and goes 'Mummy.. sorry for no eat breakfast'

I said 'It's ok, are you ok now? Feeling better?' and he said 'Yes'

Oh my goodness.. I'm so proud of him. We still have a way to go, but the fact he can address his emotions, and can come to the realization that he did something wrong and know what to apologize about is a great step forward.