Child care teachers’ strategies in children’s socialization of emotion

Abstract

An observational study was conducted to examine teachers’ emotional socialization strategies in three child care centers. Qualitative analysis of the data suggests that teachers in child care centers respond to children’s emotional expressions with various strategies. Teachers clearly expressed a preference for positive emotion through verbal reinforcement. They encouraged not only children’s smiles, laughter and affection‐seeking behaviors, but also their empathy toward other children. The teachers in the current study also instruct children about constructive ways of expressing emotion. Negative responses to children’s emotional expressions imply that some teachers’ emotional socialization practices need to be improved. The implications of a teacher‐training program focusing on facilitating emotional competence are suggested.

Keywords:

• Emotional development
• Socialization of emotion
• Caregiver–child interaction