How are you feeling today? Maybe green, or red? Yellow? Blue? Relating your feelings to a colour probably doesn’t make too much sense to you, but it definitely does to us at OSHC. Recognising how we are feeling is the first step to managing our own behaviour and choosing to make good choices.  Of course, making a positive choice rather than a negative one is our main goal.

If a child is feeling green it means they are good to go; they are calm, ready to learn, content and proud of themselves. If children explain they are feeling a little yellow, we recognise this as them beginning to feel overwhelmed, frustrated or anxious. When children are feeling red they are extremely heightened with emotions of anger where they may be yelling, throwing things or aggressive. We aim to manage children’s feelings and emotions as early as we can, so they don’t get to the red zone where they are unable to make a good choice. Understanding that we all have bad days allows for the blue zone. If a child is feeling blue, they may be exhausted, sad, sick, hurt or bored.

When we can understand our own feelings, we are able to manage our choices well and work using strategies to get ourselves back to feeling green. Ask your wee one at home how they are feeling today!