Three-year-old Tommy is crying and upset because he cannot draw a truck like Sam’s. The most probable reason for Tommy’s behavior is that it is age-typical. Three-year-olds generally tend to display many behavioral problems due to immaturity. According to Fields, Meritt, and Fields (2014) “Just being young is often the cause of problems; the younger the child, the more this is so (p. 245).” Some of these age-typical behaviors include crying and outbursts like Tommy, which is an inability to regulate emotions.
Wittmer, Petersen, and Puckett (2013) make mention of children at three years of age experiencing dramatic changes in their emotional development. Tommy’s inability to regulate his emotions is an indication of this aspect of emotional development. As a result of this, when he experiences intense emotions, he may not know exactly how to express these feelings verbally and how to react to them. Consequently, this leads to pent up emotions and he gets frustrated. In addition to this, Tommy has an outburst as a means of releasing his emotions. This is displayed as crying and seeming upset in the case of him not being able to draw a truck like Sam’s.…show more content… Emotion regulation, as defined by Fields et al. (2014) is the “ability to control our internal reactions and outward expressions of our emotions (p. 40).” Although this coaching can take place during the time he is experiencing an emotional outburst and can be extremely valuable, it can also be taught when he is much calmer as well. Coaching Tommy’s emotion regulation can be done in a variety of ways, including role-play, artistic expression, reading books about emotions that he may be experiencing, discussions about feelings, and songs. He can also be taught about having a “calm down spot” where he is free to go when he is feeling
