The idea of teaching emotions to Hannah never occurred to me. It all started from reading a Chinese story book where animals became happy, sad or angry when naughty children make friends with them or pull their tails.<\/p>\n
Little did I know that this book was to become a springboard to the realm of emotions for Hannah who was around one year old then. She started saying things like “mommy be angry” when I was angry at her or “is mommy happy?” to check whether I was still simmering. A part of building relationships for social creatures like us is the ability to read and communicate emotions. When she was a bit older, Hannah started recognising her own feelings and began to articulate them. Of course, her vocab is limited. She still uses words like “sad” and “angry” but it helps us understand what she was going through without having to second-guess her unhappiness.<\/p>\n
I shall never forget the question which my then pregnant girl friend asked me, “What are the joys of parenting?”. I don’t know. Can’t really nail it down. I suppose when Hannah goes banging at the door “mommy, what are you doing?” when I was trying to shower, “mommy, do you want to play lego with me?” when I was warming up her milk, “mommy, I’m very sad” and proceeds to hug me, “MOMMMMMMYYYYYY!!!!” when she woke up in the morning, “Mommy, my friend gave me a sticker!” after she got home from the nanny’s, “Mommy, let’s go swimming tomorrow okay?” when weekend is drawing near, etc etc. Oops, I must have gotten a bit emo and digress again. :)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The idea of teaching emotions to Hannah never occurred to me. It all started from reading a Chinese story book where animals became happy, sad or angry when naughty children make friends with them or pull their tails. Little did<\/p>\n