10 Emotions Your Child Should Know

Before your child can talk about problems and feelings, they need an emotional vocabulary. Simply teaching your child how to label what they are feeling can empower them to talk about their emotions, which can lead to solutions.

Here are 10 emotions your child can add to their emotional word bank.

1. Joy

Most kids know what it feels like to be happy, which often comes from external circumstances, such as receiving a toy at a birthday party.

But it’s important for kids to understand the difference between joy and happiness because it gives them something very distinctive to strive for. While happiness is influenced by external circumstances, joy comes when you have accepted who you are and are at peace with yourself.

Joy is cultivated internally, while happiness is experienced externally.

2. Love

Love is something you feel when someone means very much to you and you like that person very much. Because love indicates a strong feeling of like, many people say they love objects as well, such as a blanket or a lovey.

It’s very possible, however, to love someone even when you don’t like them from time to time. You can often tell how much you love someone by what you’re willing to do for them and what you’re willing to share with them.

That is why love is often more than a feeling. Love is an act.

3. Fear

There are many sources of fear. Sometimes we are afraid of the unknown, or sometimes we are afraid of something bad happening to us again.

While fear doesn’t feel good, it’s an important response and moves us to action, often to protect ourselves. Even the strongest and bravest grownups feel afraid from time to time.

Sometimes fear is a natural byproduct of love. If there is something you love in your life, you might be afraid of losing it or of something bad happening to it.

There is no shame in being afraid.

4. Jealousy

Sometimes we feel jealous when we want something someone else has. You can be jealous of your brother’s scooter, or you can be jealous of the attention he’s getting because of it.

Jealousy is also natural, but it is not a feeling you want to hold on to. One way to overcome jealousy is to make a list of things you are thankful for.

5. Anger

You may feel angry when somebody treats you unfairly or hurts you—or when someone you love has been hurt.

There are situations where you should feel angry, such as when someone hits your sister, so anger is not a bad emotion. In fact, anger can be the right emotion to have.

Anger may be one of the toughest emotions to handle. The best way to manage anger is to talk about what is bothering you. It’s okay to say you are angry. It’s even better to say you’re angry without yelling.

6. Sadness

There are many reasons why someone can be sad. Many times, sadness is the feeling that’s left when all the energy from anger has gone away.

We feel sad when something doesn’t go our way, when we’ve lost or miss someone, or when somebody has hurt us.

It’s okay to be sad, but we need to know how to deal with it. An important question to ask when we feel sad is, “What happened to make us sad?”

It’s also important to tell a grownup you trust about how you feel so they can help you. Sadness is not something you should try to handle on your own.

7. Loneliness

Sometimes we may feel lonely when there is no one to play with. While that can certainly be true, being lonely is not the same thing as being bored.

Loneliness is something we feel when we think there is no one to talk to, no one who understands us, or no one who cares about us.

8. Frustration

We often feel frustrated when things don’t happen according to plan or the way we expected them to.

Learning to tie a shoe can be frustrating because it may take many tries. One way to deal with frustration is to manage expectations.

If you expect to learn to do something on the first try, of course you will feel frustrated. But if you understand that learning to tie a shoe isn’t easy and takes practice, you will become less frustrated.

9. Embarrassment

If your face is turning red and you want to hide, you’re likely feeling embarrassed. Maybe you’ve done something wrong, or you don’t want a bunch of people staring at you.

Either way, embarrassment is an uncomfortable feeling. The good news is that this feeling often goes away with time.

10. Pride

Feeling proud is almost the exact opposite of feeling embarrassed. When you feel proud, you want to share your story with someone or a group of people. You may even want everyone to look at you.

Whether you’ve done something kind for a friend or received a trophy after working really hard at something, feeling proud is a good feeling.