Building a shared language of coping: Dynamics of communication between parents and preschool children

This paper extends the current literature on social emotional development in the early years by providing an understanding of how young children comprehend and talk about everyday challenging situations and the way they cope with these. The paper also provides examples of how visual images in the form of Early Years Coping Cards may be used by the parents to engage young children in discussions about coping and coping-related activities in a family context. The focus of this paper is on parents' engagement with their children as they talked about challenging situations and coping. The shared language between parents and children provides a forum to effectively engage in deeper meaningful conversations in a family context. This in turns provides a building block for children to develop social and emotional competence by learning how to share understandings through conversations with adults.