Emotional Development

Playing Fair: Teaching Conflict Resolution to 6-Year-Olds

By Siyona Varghese At six years old, children are navigating a new social world filled with games, group activities, classroom rules, and shared spaces. While these experiences help them grow socially, they also introduce inevitable conflicts. Disagreements over turns, rules, or personal space are common at this age—not because children are misbehaving, but because they […]

When They Say ‘I Can’t’: Nurturing a Growth Mindset in 6-Year-Olds

By Siyona Varghese At age six, children begin to develop stronger beliefs about their abilities. They compare themselves to peers, notice differences in performance, and start forming self-concepts about being “good” or “bad” at particular tasks. This stage is crucial for introducing the foundations of a growth mindset—the belief that intelligence and abilities can improve […]

Helping 6-Year-Olds Name and Navigate Their Emotions

By Siyona Varghese At six years old, children are entering a crucial stage in emotional development. Their feelings are becoming more complex, their awareness of others is deepening, and they are starting to make connections between what they feel and how they behave. However, they still need consistent guidance to understand and manage these emotional […]

Understanding Emotions Through Stories: Using Books to Teach Feelings

By Siyona Varghese   Helping young children understand and express their emotions is one of the most important aspects of early development. For 5-year-olds, who are just beginning to recognize the complex world of feelings, stories and books can be powerful tools. Through engaging narratives and relatable characters, children learn to identify, label, and manage […]

When to Step In: Managing Conflict Between 5-Year-Olds

By Siyona Varghese Conflicts between young children, especially 5-year-olds, are a normal part of social development. At this age, children are still learning how to communicate their feelings, share, negotiate, and solve problems with their peers. As caregivers, teachers, or parents, it can be tricky to decide when to intervene and when to let children […]

Celebrating Differences: Inclusion and Acceptance in Early Childhood

By Siyona Varghese The early years of a child’s life are full of learning—not just about letters, numbers, and shapes, but about people, relationships, and how the world works. During this critical time, children begin to form ideas about themselves and others. That’s why it’s so important to introduce the values of inclusion, diversity, and […]

Worries and Whys: Understanding Anxiety in 5-Year-Olds

By Siyona Varghese At five years old, children are full of questions — “Why is the sky blue?” “What happens if I get lost?” “Why do I have to go to school?” Along with this natural curiosity, many begin to experience their first real worries. These concerns might seem small to adults, but to a […]

Kindness Counts: Teaching Compassion to 5-Year-Olds

By Siyona Varghese In a world that often feels hurried and competitive, teaching children the value of kindness is more important than ever. By the time your child turns five, they are developmentally ready to begin understanding the emotions of others and the impact of their actions. While empathy and compassion may not yet come […]

Your 5-Year-Old’s Emotional Toolkit: Building Resilience and Empathy

By Siyona Varghese By the time your child turns five, they’re not just growing physically—they’re developing a more complex and capable emotional world. They begin to understand that other people have feelings too, they can talk about their own emotions more clearly, and they’re starting to manage frustration and disappointment better than before. This period […]