Health and Wellbeing
Communicate Calmly with a Distressed Child
Sound calm to a child in distress even when you're panicking inside, using a few words you've practised ahead of time.
- 23 minutes
- 6 modules
- Certificate
Members
Parent membership: all 50 courses for parents and carers, £40 a year or £4 a month after 14 days free.
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What you'll learn
- Use "slow, low, low" to sound calm when you don't feel it
- Prepare and practise stock phrases for the moments that keep coming up
- Choose words that work for one particular child, based on what's helped before
- Agree a signal or use emoji cards when words make things worse
- Ask for feedback afterwards, once everyone is calm
About this course
A child who is furious or frightened needs the adult in front of them to seem steady. That's hard to pull off when your own heart is racing and you can't think what to say.
Start with how you speak: slow, low, low. Slow your pace, drop your tone and bring your volume down, and you'll sound calmer than you feel (often you'll start to feel it too). Then pick two or three stock phrases, such as "I'm ready to listen when you're ready to talk", and practise them until they come out without thinking. There's a handout of suggested phrases to start from.
Some children don't respond well to talk at all. For them, you'll work out a private signal together, or use emoji cards so they can show you how they feel.
6 modules
Open in order
- 1 min
1 – Introduction
- 6 min
2 – Slow Low Low
- 6 min
3 – Stock phrases: groups
- 5 min
4 -Stock phrases: individual
1 question
- 4 min
5 – When words don’t work
1 question
- 4 min
6 – Review