Contagious Emotions? Your Kid Doesn’t Have to Get Sucked into Drama
IS YOUR KID A SECRET AGENT FOR OTHER’S EMOTIONS?
Do you have a kid that means well but sometimes listens to others more than their own internal compass? Does your kid jump in to help, rescue or defend but doesn’t recognize that sometimes the circumstances don’t warrant being helped, rescued or defended?
Emotions don’t have to be contagious! Teaching our kids to respond based on how they feel and not the feelings of their peers is a big lesson in empowering them to make sound, rational decisions when it comes to how they want to spend their emotional energy.
In this episode, we explore teaching our kids how to respond based on how their feelings, NOT by being sucked into the emotional drama and dirty work of others. Sometimes kids (and grown-ups if we’re honest) have a hard time distinguishing between how they feel about something if everyone else is voicing their emotions. This can lead us down a path of destruction.
If you have a big-hearted kid who loves to help others and stand up for what’s right, but sometimes blurs the line between helping and just inserting themselves into a situation where they don’t belong, then this is an episode for you!
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In this Episode of The Rooted Family Podcast...
She was getting in the mix when it wasn't appropriate or when she didn't need to be involved or when it was not something that even applied to her. She had totally invested herself in the situation and then reacted to the energy of everybody else in the group. (5:00)
And we're doing it without even our words. We're doing it with our body language. We are, some people call it vibes. We're sending out vibes and energy. (07:06)
We also have to be cognizant that we're not just sucking in everybody else's energetic emotional states and then we don't know how we feel about things, which is what she and I were working on. (09:23)
How invested am I in this situation really? Like, do I really care that much about the situation? Sometimes we're just in it because everybody else is in it, but it really doesn't matter to us or mean anything to us. (12:18)
What a tool to have as a tween who's about to hit middle school and high school to be aware that you do not have to be mixed up in the emotional state of others. That you have the opportunity to make a choice based on how you are feeling on the inside. And if you feel on the inside that you need to stick up for somebody and that is in your core, then that's your choice. (18:24)
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This Episode's Question:
Do you find yourself jumping into situations based on other’s emotions? Do you see this in your child?
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Episode #10: Building Resiliency in Children by Letting Them Fail