You can help your child regulate their emotions by coaching them to slow down and calmly respond to situations rather than being impulsive. Patience and positive feedback from the parent are important. With support and guidance, the child will gradually learn to handle challenges on their own.
Feelings of sadness, loss, or emotional extremes are part of growing up. Conflicts between parents and children are also inevitable as children struggle from the “terrible twos” through adolescence to develop their own identities. These are normal changes in behavior due to growth and development.
Highly sensitive children are wired to process and react to their experiences in the world more deeply than other children. A highly sensitive child is very attuned to their environment, experiences, relationships, and expectations. A child's high sensitivity is about their temperament.
This is because kids with ADHD are more prone to be emotionally impulsive, which means they are more easily frustrated, impatient, excited, angry and annoyed than other kids who are the same age, sex and developmental level as them.
Validate her feelings, but remove the attention from crying. Focus instead on redirecting her behavior towards the goal, and ignore additional outbursts. Lavish praise for attempting or accomplishing the goal. Don't do this: Say, “I'll go to the store and buy the cereal bars you want,” and ignore her upset feelings.
A child who cries over everything may be struggling with anxiety or depression, and therapy can help. A therapist can help your child learn how to handle criticism and setbacks without getting overwhelmed. Why is my son crying for no reason? Your son may be crying because he is dealing anxiety or depression.
Facts about mental disorders in U.S. children. ADHD, anxiety problems, behavior problems, and depression are the most commonly diagnosed mental disorders in children.
Foster and encourage relationships with strong and positive adults, and continue being the supportive role model your child needs. Your child watches and learns from everything you do, so model resilient behaviors. Be calm and consistent. Admit to your mistakes, but don't agonize over them.
According to Elaine N. Aron, the trait of high sensitivity, found in 20-30% of the population is likely to have nothing to do with a child/person on the autistic spectrum.
A highly sensitive child will remain a highly sensitive adult but can learn self-regulation, mindfulness, coping with difficulties and can make sensitivity an advantage.
The Bottom Line
As long as your baby's essential needs are being met and you actively engage them in a loving way, how much or how little you hold them is entirely up to you. If you want to hold them, do. If you want to put them down, even if they cry, that's fine as well.
Many parents share that they often feel embarrassed when their child cries. It's helpful for parents when they become aware that these feelings are often evoked because they still carry inside unresolved feelings relating to being rejected or shamed for crying when they were young.
This is a view we hear often, and my research agrees with this panelist's opinion to a point: constant suppression of a child's emotional life is harmful; crying and expressing feelings are important social-emotional skills.
Increased anxiety: Yelling may trigger a “fight or flight” response, aggravating ADHD symptoms. Diminished self-esteem: Chronic exposure to harsh words could cause a decline in self-worth and self-confidence.
Kids with ADHD can also have tantrums or meltdowns. These meltdowns can be extreme and often involve crying, yelling, and fits of anger. When a child has a meltdown, parents may feel overwhelmed and not know what to do.
Sensory overload can trigger meltdowns easily, especially when we cannot do something about it. When we are faced with intense or too much external stimuli, breakdowns can be hard to avoid.
A child's perception of neglect is important. When a child perceives they're being neglected emotionally, they are twice as likely to develop psychiatric disorders by age 15, including the development of depression, bipolar disorder, anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).