Emotions
At Hope 4 Hurting Kids, one of our principle missions is to help young people understand, cope with and overcome the difficult emotions that they face. Whether it is dealing with family problems, parental divorce, bullying or a multitude of other issues young people face today, dealing with the underlying emotions is a vital first step in moving from hurt to hope and healing. To that end we have developed a comprehensive emotions management plan we call Jump In! Stand Strong! Rise Up! Many of the articles and resources listed on this page represent ideas on how to help kids understand (Jump In!), cope with (Stand Strong!) and overcome (Rise Up!) difficult emotions. We have also included information and resources related to grief on this page. While we realize that grief is way more than emotions, difficult emotions are a significant part of grief. If you would like to limit your search to one area, please click on one of the options below.
Scenario Cards (I Feel)
Welcome to the second installment in a line of new resources from Hope 4 Hurting Kids called Scenario Cards (I Feel). Last week, we introduced Emotion Scenario Cards (Anger). These Scenario Cards present scenarios to teens and kids that can be used in a variety of ways in our comprehensive emotions management plan known as Jump In! Stand Strong! Rise Up! This particular set of cards presents kids with a range of scenarios that might elicit a variety of different emotions. These cards can be used in a variety of ways: Talk to the child or teen about what emotion each particular ...
Emotion Scenario Cards (Anger)
Welcome to the first installment in a line of new resources from Hope 4 Hurting Kids called Emotion Scenario Cards (Anger). These Emotion Scenario Cards present scenarios to teens and kids that can be used in a variety of ways in our comprehensive emotions management plan known as Jump In! Stand Strong! Rise Up! This particular set of cards presents kids with a range of scenarios that are likely to cause some degree of frustration or anger. These cards can be used in a variety of ways: Play a game called "Anger in Action." Have a child select one card and act ...
The Anger-ometer (Tracking Your Anger In Order to Deal With It)
There is nothing wrong with being angry. How we choose to deal with that anger is important. If we keep it all bottled up inside, we will suffer in the long run. Or, if we choose inappropriate outlets for our anger, there can be unwanted consequences. In order to deal with our anger, an important first step is recognizing when we get angry, how angry we get and what we do to express that anger. That’s why we here Hope 4 Hurting Kids have developed: THE ANGER-OMETER Like a thermometer that measures temperature, you can use the Anger-ometer to measure ...
The Shield of Strength
Grief and worry can often leave young people feeling all alone and isolated. The Shield of Strength is a fun craft and activity to get kids thinking about their own assets and other people in their lives that can be there to help them when they need it the most. You can click on the picture above to get a downloadable template for the Shield of Strength as well as the instructions. Here's how it works: Draw a shield pattern like the one above on a large piece of cardboard or poster board. Divide the shield into four sections by ...
Leave the Room
Leave the Room is a fun game to play with kids and teens to help them better understand their emotions, and it's simple to set up and play. You can play it in a one-on-one situation, but it's most fun in a small group. Here's how it works: Send one person out of the room (the guesser). Pick an emotion and let the remaining kids (and adults) in the room know what the emotion is. You may need to help younger kids who aren't familiar with the emotion you've selected. Explain that everyone should act out the emotion (either with ...
Dealing With The Emotions of Divorce
Divorce brings a multitude of change and chaos into the lives of children and with them the various emotions of divorce. That change and chaos breeds all sorts of new and strong emotions that children are often ill-equipped to deal with on their own. Many of these emotions will be entirely new to these children, and most have not developed enough to deal with them by themselves. Further compounding the problem is that many parents are also ill-equipped to help their children deal with the emotions they are experiencing because the parents are also drowning in a tidal wave of ...
Gratitude Changes Attitude
Over time many children of divorce have a change of attitude about things. Many will get bitter and some will have attitude problems. After the initial shock of their parents being divorced, having time to process the divorce, adjusting to two homes and when the stress dies down, some children actually find joy in life. How do they do it? How can they find joy in the midst of trials and even tribulations? In the article, The Grateful Brain we read, “Gratitude, particularly if practiced regularly, can keep you healthier and happier.” The article goes onto talk about misconceptions we’ve ...
The Science of Anger
We write a lot on Hope 4 Hurting Kids about how to how to help kids understand emotions like anger and different coping mechanism for dealing with anger. This short video from Life Noggin will help you to understand the science of anger and what happens inside your body and your brain when you're starting to feel angry ...
The Grief Maze
The Grief Maze is a useful for tool for helping kids, and adults, to understand the grief process with all of its twists and turns. Here is what the text says on the Grief Maze handout: Grief is a lot like a maze. Sometimes you move forward. Other times, like your grief journey, you will run into obstacles and road blocks. Sometime you have to go backwards to go around a wall, and sometimes you have to retrace your steps. The important thing though, both in a maze and in grief, is that you continue to move forward and eventually you ...
The Empathy Map
Empathy is a critical skill for kids to develop and one of the hallmarks of emotional healing as detailed in the Grand Feelings Exit Plan (Signs of Emotional Health). The Empathy Map is a great way to get kids thinking about and understanding empathy for others. It is adapted from a business setting where it is used to understand clients but works great with kids. Here's What You Need A large sheet of paper or a board. Markers. Sticky notes. Pen/Pencil Here's How To Set Up the Empathy Map (as shown above) Title the page "Empathy Map." Underneath the title write ...
Stress Free Children of Divorce
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every little kid who had divorcing parents showed up in your class stress free? There would be no fighting, arguing or yelling. All the kids would want to be involved. They would want to form community and care for one another. The group would ooze kindness. Impossible you say? I beg to differ. Many children who live in divorcing and stressed out families don’t know how not to be stressed. It is their way of life and, like we’ve said before, they will bring that chaos and stress with them. However, there are things we ...
Fidget Spinner Emotions
Fidget Spinners are all the rage, and now Fidget Spinner Emotions will let you use a fidget spinner to help kids better understand and deal with their emotions. With kids ranging from 10 into their upper teens, I have seen first hand how they are all drawn to fidget spinners, and truth-be-told, I have a collection of them myself (though I tell people it's only because of my work with kids). How it works Cut out the arrow pointer(s) you want to use. Cut out the dotted circle and place the arrow pointer over the center of your fidget spinner ...
