Expressing Emotions and Positive Parenting (Baby Sign Language – Week 6)

For our sixth Sing and Sign lesson, we focused on something your baby has in abundance: feelings! Whilst AJ isn’t old enough to understand what I’m signing, it’s important to me to get into the habit of talking about his emotions so I’m prepared to validate all the wonderful, messy feelings he will experience growing up.

Signs of the Week

Here are five emotion signs to start us off. Of course, there are many many more emotions we will one day want to communicate to our children but with baby sign language, quality over quantity is key. It is much better to know a few signs and sign them consistently each day then know a whole plethora but only sign them every so often.

Encouraging Children to Express Emotions

Sadly it is often the case in society that boys are not taught or encouraged to express their feelings, which consequently can make it more difficult for them to manage them. Our patriarchal society teaches the toxic idea that it is not manly to show emotions or ask for help. I want to raise AJ in a way that he feels comfortable expressing his full range of emotions and in an environment where it is okay to cry.

Of course, denying any child, regardless of their gender, ability to express themselves is damaging. Growing up in a Chinese household meant that it was frowned upon to show negative emotions or even positive ones if they were too strong. There was a prevalent culture of emotional suppression and stoicism.

So as Cantonese parents, it is hard to unlearn these unhelpful messages we were taught ourselves as children and finding the right language can be especially difficult. So let’s practice some sentences we can say when our child is having BIG feelings.

• 每個人有時都會覺得傷心。mui5 go3 jan4 jau5 si4 dou1 wui6 gok3 dak1 soeng1 sam1 = Everyone feels sad sometimes

• 喊係好正常、係冇問題嘅。haam3 hai6 hou2 zeng3 soeng4, hai6 mou5 man6 tai4 ge3 = It’s okay to cry

• 好多謝你同我分享你嘅感受 。hou2 do1 ze6 nei5 tung4 ngo5 fan1 hoeng2 nei5 ge3 gam2 sau6 = Thank you for sharing your feelings

I learnt these phrases from roundbunny’s Youtube channel, which I highly recommend to any Cantonese parent. On her channel, you can find more videos on positive parenting phrases, her child reading poetry, and fun art tutorials all in Cantonese!

I really subscribe to positive parenting and plan on learning more about how to model it in Cantonese. I have created a Quizlet deck with the above phrases, which I will add to as my vocabulary grows. Please share any parenting phrases you know that I can add to this deck.

As always, if you wish to strengthen your baby sign language, you can review our previous signing lessons and our Quizlet deck. Happy Sunday and happy signing!