Question

Attachment and Security are two of the most important things we can provide to infants. Those who have not learned to attach to and trust their caregivers are more likely to experience trauma and relationship issues in the future. Learning to identify and appropriately express emotions and feelings is one of the most important things we can learn as people, however is really not taught to anyone, by anyone.... this is a great topic to think of in regard to our own development and growth Questions: What is emotional regulation? Why is it important? How can caregivers help infants develop strategies for regulating emotions? What is the relationship between the capacity for expressing and withholding emotion by infants and parents and the development of a sense of trust?

Answer 1

1. Emotional regulation is controlling our emotions and regulating it, there are certain occasions when an adult has to regulate his negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, anger, and frustration because these are the negative emotions that affect his behavior negatively if not regulated, or controlled.

It happens that we allow our feelings to control our actions, and when we allow this to happen we regret our action that was taken under the influence of negative thoughts.

2. It is very important to regulate our negative thoughts and emotions because when we allow our negative thoughts to rule our emotions we often take a wrong decision or we hurt others feelings and it can cause damage to our emotional health leading to stress. To have a good relation and social life it is important to regulate our emotions and does not take any action under the influence of negative emotions, it is better to regulate our emotions through mindfulness and stress management, these techniques will improve mood, feeling of self-worth and empathy.

3. The person who looks after the child whether they are parents or caregivers, they face the situation where the child misbehaves or show tantrums and behave in a very negative way, the situation is very difficult, as these young children do not understand the emotions, they want their demands to be fulfilled when these types of situation arise it is the duty of the caregivers to correct them by applying various methods like positive enforcement or negative enforcement or by punishing them , explain them calmly the positive and negative aspects of emotions and its harmful effects, as the child is attached to caregivers they can teach a child by adopting strategies like relaxing exercises, deep breathing, and give them confidence that they are loved by them, so that the child can come for the caregivers opinion and suggestions, when in emotional turmoil.

4 An infant develop trust or mistrust depending upon the situation, he has been looked by the parents or caregivers, if the child gets support and safety he develops trust and if the child did not find support and safety the emotions of mistrust develop in a child and that effects the adulthood.

If the child trust the caregivers he will be open with them and he will be able to express his emotions more freely, and openly, he can express his love and anger more freely as he has the trust that he will be cared by them, same way the parents should show their love and affection, and build trust in the child that he will be safe in their care, parents/caregivers should not hide their positive feelings, they can hide negative emotions from the child, as it may have bad effects on the child-parent relationship.