Zones of Regulation

Helping children to identify their emotions is the first step to them managing them. Colours (or Zones) gives them an easy way to do this so that they can self-regulation.

What are the Zones of Regulation?

Your child may have been talking about feeling ‘red’ or ‘yellow’. What does this mean? Well, St Mark’s are adopting a really helpful way for children to identify and talk about their emotional state- even when they are angry or anxious! Identifying the colour helps children to know how to move towards a more settled state, which may not always been straight to green. It also enables them to know ‘it’s ok to feel this way’, although we are still responsible for our actions. Why not talk through it with your child?

Helping children makes sense of their feelings of being at home

This is a very funny time at the moment and most people are in yellow. When things change and things are all different, our bodies start to get ready.

I know that when you are in yellow and getting ready you might feel different and getting back to green on your own can be very tricky. Your clever brain is finding it hard to stop when you feel wrong, ask a grown up for help and make a plan to feel better. .

This isn’t just you, it’s everyone. There is nothing to be extra worried about and I know it is hard to slow down when you are yellow but you must keep using your words and let your adults know how you feel with them. Stop before you show how you feel with actions like shouting and unkind hands.

Adults and children must remember that in yellow we find it hard to stop and might need help from someone else.

Problems can feel very big when we are in yellow and we need to make sure our words and behaviour are the same size as the problem.

Doing your work at home could make you very yellow. Things are very different at home for the adults too. They might need your to help them too. Have a talk about being at home and make a list of all the things you are thinking about, the uncomfortable things so that we can stop, think and plan.

Getting back to green

You can do it!

Getting used to ‘Zones’ can take time, but it’s a really accessible way to for children to understand what they are feeling for themselves, and therefor make decisions about how to get back to a safer place. Don’t give up!