The 10 Emotional Skills Every Teen Needs To Be Taught

Emotional regulation skills for teens need to be taught both explicitly and via role modeling. They play a big part in helping to create happy, resilient adults.

I have to admit; I’m fascinated by a toddler tantrum. I can understand why they are so distressing to parents but it is an incredible thing to watch. It doesn’t seem possible that one so small could muster that much energy and throw it out like a force field around themselves.

I admire the commitment of the act. The brain’s base instincts bursting forth and overtaking everything else. It makes me wonder about the effort we must expend as adults in keeping all that emotion under control because, to some degree, it is still in there somewhere.

We expect emotional outbursts from very young children, but by the time they are in their tweens and teens we expect them to be controlled and self-managing. It is a big ask…and unrealistic. Emotional maturity takes a long time. The brain only reaches an adult state in a person’s early twenties.

Emotional Regulation In Teens

There are times in this development where the experience of emotion is multiplied by the impact of hormones. When these chemicals first flood the brain at around age two and then again during puberty, all hell can break loose.

We tend to underestimate how often a child has to self-regulate over the course of a day. We don’t notice because we are so good at it and we forget what it was like to not have those skills down pat. Think about it…

Wake up and work up the enthusiasm for school
Sibling interactions that may be competitive and raw
Boredom on the bus
Walk past a student who has upset you the day before
Get called on by the teacher when you don’t know the answer
Excitement at getting a text from a girl/boy you like
Do poorly on a test
Disappointment at not making the netball team
Frustration about a new Math concept
Last period on a Friday over excitement
And on and on and on…

Transitions are particularly challenging and school is all about transitions. Every hour high school students stand up, change rooms, adapt to the expectations of a new teacher, tackle completely different content and make social adjustments based on who is in the class. It’s exhausting.

It is little wonder kids often feel grumpy and spent after school. Remember, they are also in uniforms; often not comfortable and certainly not their choice. Truth be told, I know I’d be a more relaxed soul if I could come to school in sandshoes and tracky pants. Kids are the same.

What Are The Skills Of Emotional Regulation?

According to Alice Boyes PhD, there are ten skills of emotional self-regulation that we need to master by the time we are adults.

Identifying which specific emotions you’re feeling.
Identifying which specific emotions someone else is feeling.
The ability to start and persist in pursuing goals even when you feel anxious.
The ability to tolerate awkwardness.
The ability to have intimate conversations rather than stonewall, avoid, or flee.
The ability not to crumble when someone is pressuring you.
The ability to soothe your own emotions.
The ability to soothe other people’s emotions.
The ability to not go over the top with positive emotion.
The ability to delay gratification.

I would argue that an understanding of the additional factors that negatively impact our emotional regulation is also very important. Factors such as lack of sleep, lack of exercise, hunger, drug use and alcohol use.

What Gets In The Way Of Kids Learning Emotional Regulation?

A problem we are beginning to recognise is that recent parenting and educational practices are getting in the way of the development of sound emotional regulation. This is happening in two main ways:

Over the past 30 years, we have become increasingly worried about children’s confidence and self-esteem. These are valid concerns but they have led to a situation where we now try to remove failure and conflict from our children’s lives.

We have sports competitions where we aren’t allowed to have winners and losers, so we don’t keep score. We try to engineer friendships for our kids and sort out their conflicts for them. Perhaps we recall our own emotional dysregulation and we think we can save our children from those feelings.

On the flip side, some parents believe in ‘tough love’. The ‘harden up princess’, ‘You’re okay’ approach. The problem with that is emotional regulation relies on a connection with parents.

Parents need to be talking to kids about what emotions are, what purpose they serve and how to regulate them. A lot of this is done via role modelling and creating a space where it is safe to talk about feelings; both your own and your child’s.

Maladaptive Behaviour

When a child doesn’t learn appropriate self-regulation they can take on maladaptive strategies instead. These are harmful behaviours that in one way or another either numb the experience of emotion, channel it into another form of manageable pain or avoid feeling altogether. Some of the most common maladaptive behaviours are:

Avoidance of emotion
‘Acting out’
Withdrawal
Aggression
Excessive social media use
Self-harm (Often described as a way of ‘feeling something’)
Alcohol and drug use
Excessive gaming (It provides a consistent, safe, unemotional world)
Social media abuse
Eating disorders linked to control
Promiscuity

What Can Adults Do To Help Children Develop Their Emotional Regulation Skills?

1. Create emotionally expressive environments at home and school. These are spaces and places for kids where they feel free to say how they feel without fear of being ‘shut down’. There is a limit on behaviour but there is not a limit on emotion.

2. Develop your empathy response and use it with children. Kids need to feel heard. You don’t have to fix anything, just listen to understand.

3. Create a strong sense of belonging. Ritual and routine can help here. This sense of belonging makes it safe to express emotion and learn how to regulate safely.

4. Model your own emotional regulation. Talk about emotions you are experiencing and the strategies you are using to regulate those emotions.

5. Overtly teach strategies for self-regulation:

Self-talk
Meditation
Take a break
Exercise
Talk with a good listener
Breathe

6. Talk to kids about emotional regulation and strategies when they are calm, not in the middle of a meltdown. Mindfulness is essential.

7. Teach kids that positive emotions need to be regulated, not just negative ones. When kids talk over others or act ‘over the top’ and silly because they are excited they put people off.

8. Try not to be dictated to by our culture’s gender bias. Unfortunately, males and females get quite different feedback to emotions. Boys are expected to suppress their emotions much more than girls. Equally as damaging is the perception that female expressions of emotion are melodramatic and not to be taken too seriously. Let’s avoid the dismissive, ‘that’s just girls’.

Finally…

Remind children that crying is a valid form of emotional regulation. Remember that it’s not necessary to stop someone crying. It won’t make them feel better. Just be with it. Tears are not a sign of weakness or of lack of competence. Crying releases emotional tension and can flag distress. Just because someone is emotional does not mean that what they are saying or thinking is not rational.