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Teaching Children to Manage Their Emotions
video series

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Three Brain States That Influence Behaviour

In this first video, educator and author Cherilyn Orr explains how she gained a new understanding of the way the human brain functions and how times of stress or peace can dramatically alter a child’s decision-making ability. She goes on to describe how these insights led her to radically change her approach to training and disciplining her children.

Get more out of this series!

After watching video one, consider taking these steps to get the most out of this part of the series: 

// Step 1

Read and meditate on these Scripture verses: “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17 ESV)

// Step 2

Answer these discussion questions:

    1. Can you think of a time recently when your child was in “red brain”? How did they behave? And how did you respond?
    2. Can you think of a time recently when your child was in “yellow brain”? How did they behave? And how did you respond?
    3. According to video one, what does a child need most when they are functioning in red brain?

// Step 3

Spend time in prayer:

Heavenly Father,
You know that we love our children, and we are so grateful for them.
We’re aware, however, that there have been many times when we could have loved our children better, in that moment, by responding to them in more positive ways.
We come to you with humble hearts, admitting that we still have much to learn about how to care for our kids’ emotional well-being.
Please help us to absorb the wisdom you have for us here, so we can become better guides for our children.
Amen.

// Step 4

Read the article "Teaching kids how to calm their emotions: The Stoplight Approach" to learn more about how to use Cherilyn's traffic light model and the red, yellow and green colours to boost kids' awareness of their emotional state.

Recommended resource

Video 1 page - Signals book imageSignals: How Brain Science and the Bible Help Parents Raise Resilient Children by Cherilyn Orr introduces the analogy of a traffic light to give families a common language for talking about managing strong emotions. As you teach your kids about regulating their emotions, you’ll learn how to keep your cool in the face of misbehaviour too, so that your kids can feel safe with you and remain receptive to your instruction. (Read a review of this book here.)

Order your copy of this book today and get $3 off when you use the code*: SIGNALS

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