A–Z Glossary

Coping skills

Practical strategies children practice to manage distress, such as breathing, movement breaks, drawing, calming music, or asking for help.

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Losing friends and coping kids

Losing friends and coping kids

Why friendship loss can hurt so much Children are not overreacting when a friendship ends badly. In peer relationships in child development, friendships are central practice for cooperation, identity, and emotional safety. A breakup can therefore feel like rejection of the self, not just the loss of a playmate or lunch partner. Children also have […]

Child struggles with change

Child struggles with change

Why change can feel so big to a child Change requires a child to stop one mental set and shift to another. That sounds simple, but neurologically it depends on executive function: working memory, cognitive flexibility, inhibitory control, time awareness, emotional regulation, and planning. These skills mature gradually across childhood and adolescence. A toddler may […]

How to build emotional strength and coping strategies

How to build emotional strength and coping strategies

Understanding emotional strength in parenting Emotional strength is often misunderstood as toughness or emotional suppression. In parenting, it is more accurately described as adaptive resilience: the ability to respond to adversity, trauma, uncertainty, or daily stress while maintaining enough psychological flexibility to keep functioning and reconnect after disruption. Resilience research highlights several protective factors, including […]

Building emotional support skills parents

Building emotional support skills parents

What emotional support skills mean in parenting Emotional support skills are the daily behaviors parents use to help a child feel safe, seen, and capable during emotional activation. These skills include noticing emotional cues, labeling feelings, validating the child’s experience, maintaining predictable boundaries, and helping the child practice coping strategies. They are not the same […]