EP 41 | Recognising Emotions: The First Step to Building Emotional Competence in Early Childhood

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The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast

Danica See

45 episodes

2 days ago

Where big feelings are welcome, tricky behaviour isn’t shamed, and early childhood educators finally feel seen.

Are you an educator, teacher, or school leader navigating the messy, beautiful world of guiding children’s behaviour, emotions, and sense of belonging? You’ve just found your people.

I’m Danica - early childhood mentor and consultant, and your go-to gal for honest, heart-led conversations about what actually works when supporting young children. Inside The Bloom Room, we go beyond sticker charts and surface-level strategies. Each week, I bring you fresh episodes packed with: 
✨ Real, evidence-informed tools you can use tomorrow .
✨ Thoughtful chats with experts and educators doing the work. 
✨ Practical guidance for supporting behaviour without shame. 
✨ A whole lot of validation, nuance, and “OMG SAME” moments.

Whether you're a seasoned leader or fresh out of uni, this is your space to grow, reflect, and reimagine what’s possible for the children in your care - and for yourself.

New episodes drop every Tuesday. Come on in and let’s bloom 🌼

Season 4 coming soon! Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out!

All content for The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast is the property of Danica See and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Education

Kids & Family,

Parenting

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EP 41 | Recognising Emotions: The First Step to Building Emotional Competence in Early Childhood

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast

19 minutes 34 seconds

1 month ago

EP 41 | Recognising Emotions: The First Step to Building Emotional Competence in Early Childhood

Children can't regulate feelings they don't know how to feel.

In part one of this three-part mini-series - that I'm affectionately calling Big Feelings 101 - I'm providing a compassionate, practical look at what emotional competence actually is (hint: it’s much more than just regulation), why it’s essential to how we understand and support children’s behaviour and the eight skills involved. I'll also provide a deep(ish) dive into the first two skills and how to bring them to life in your practice.

You’ll hear:

🐰 What emotional competence really means and why it’s often misunderstood

🐰 The first two foundational skills: recognising your own feelings and recognising them in others

🐰 The deep interconnection between how we recognise emotions in ourselves and in others

🐰 How interoception and theory of mind shape emotional awareness

🐰 Micro-moment that support these skills through everyday connection

This episode sets the groundwork for guiding big feelings without shame, power-over, or rewards and gives you the language to name what children actually need to become emotionally competent individuals.

PS: Very (very) mild coarse language features in this episode.

Helpful links

Connect with me on Instagram @littlebloom.consultancy

Visit my website www.littlebloomconsultancy.com.au

Articles

Implications of Carolyn Saarni’s work for preschoolers’ emotional competence

Early childhood teachers as socializers of young children’s emotional competence

Early childhood teachers’ socialization of children’s emotional competence