Social emotional development is an emerging area of focus amongst educators, parents and therapists. The term describes a child’s emerging abilities to recognize, express and regulate his or her emotions. Social emotional development describes the set of skills and abilities that allow a child to form meaningful and reciprocal relationships. These skills have been shown to significantly impact a child’s ability to develop and succeed in the cognitive and academic realms.
“Infants experience, express, and perceive emotions before they fully understand them,” explains the California Department of Education. “In learning to recognize, label, manage, and communicate their emotions and to perceive and attempt to understand the emotions of others, children build skills that connect them with family, peers, teachers, and the community.”
Stepping Stories™ are designed to foster social emotional development in young children. Each story targets a specific step in a child’s development and helps him or her develop impulse control, empathy, self awareness, and confidence in the face of change or challenge.
Empathy & Relationship
Each Stepping Story™ nurtures a child’s social emotional development by helping the child cope with unfamiliar or challenging events. Because Stepping Stories™ are read to children by parents and caregivers, the relationship component is inherent. The stories use specific, emotion-based language to articulate the child and caregiver’s feelings as they face change and visualize success. The child, as the both the hero and the audience of the story, reinforces and strengthens his or her connection and attachment to the parent or caregiver.
“Early experiences can build a strong foundation or a fragile one, and can affect the way children react and respond to the world around them for the rest of their lives,” explains the Boston Children’s Foundation. At Stepping Stories™, we recognize the important of these early experience and are committed to delivering a tool that helps parents set a solid foundation for social emotional development and growth.