Zones of Regulation

 

With our Positive Education parent evening coming up fast (6.30pm on the 19th of March, mark your calendars!) we thought it would be well timed to dive into some aspects of our programme to shed some light around and whet the appetite for more Pos Ed learning.

During each and every day we will experience a range of emotions. The rage you feel when someone cuts you off in traffic on the way to work. The despair when you realise you left your lunch at home on the counter and it's too late to go back for it. The joy when your colleague says they have too much of their delicious pasta and would you like some.

Maybe thats just me.

This range of emotions will always be there and learning ways to navigate those emotions and return ourselves to a calmer state is a useful tool in our emotional regulation. The earlier we start to learn about the ways we can regulate these emotions, the more equipped we will be for future difficulties.

Each of the four zones above represents a grouping of similar emotions that helps us to better identify which zone we might find ourselves or see others in.

In the classroom we learn that our best learning happens when we are in the green zone. Being calm helps us to process information and get ourselves into the flow of what we are doing.

Finding what helps you get back into the green zone can be as simple as trying some breathing exercises. Or it can be listening to metal cranked right up in your headphones as you cook dinner. Again that one could just be me.

Only you are the expert. When you feel sad sometimes you just need a hug from a loved one to get you back into the green zone. When you feel excited you may need to run to let out that extra energy and bring you back to a calmer state.

Some of the langauge we use at school includes:

• I can see you are feeling __________. What could you do to get back into your green zone?
  
  
• I'm noticing you seem to be in the blue zone, I know that you like to do __________ to get back to the green zone.

Over the coming weeks, we will make our own plans on how we get back to the green zone and share these with you.

My challenge to you is to really think about what works for you when you are trying to change your zone.