Today’s prompt for JusJoJan is mood and it comes from Dar.

A mood is a temporary state of mind or feeling and many factors can affect the mood we are in at any given moment. If one has a healthy Emotional Intelligence, one can recognise and manage one’s moods and also know how to deal with the moods of others.

I taught at a school where we were encouraged to look out for children who had difficulties with their emotions and moods, to consider the causes when dealing with them, and to help them manage their reactions to their moods too. 

Every morning as the children filed into the classroom each greeted the teacher with a show of fingers. Four fingers meant – “I am feeling great.” Three fingers meant – “I am okay.” Two fingers meant – ”I am not so great’ and 1 finger meant – “I am going to cry.”

This system helped the teacher to understand why a child would be distracted or acting up. There was no pressure on the child to say why they were feeling a certain way but they could choose to discuss things with the teacher, ask for a care circle, or ask to see the school counselor. 

We had care circles where the children could share anything with the class – just their news or anything that was bothering them and then their classmates could offer comfort or solutions. Things like – my hamster died, my dad’s gone on a business trip and I miss him. Granny is in hospital. I had a fight with my sister. The sharing really helped and made for a bonded class. A child could ask for a care circle at any time and usually after break, we would have one to settle disputes that occurred during play! Anyone who wanted to speak held a teddy bear and nobody was allowed to interrupt until the teddy was passed to her. The children loved care circle time and many issues were thrashed out during this time and the children usually ended up finding solutions with very little input from the teacher.  

You might think that all this would take time but it was time well-spent. The children knew that they were understood and cared for not only by the teacher but by their peers as well and this reduced bullying to a great degree. 

I found that most of the children would enter the classroom with four fingers and the ever-cheerful ones even went as high as 10! Then there were the melancholics who were always a two and would express something very minor as the cause. I would say something sympathetic and then ask if there was something else at that moment that could make them a three. After a little thinking, the answer would be something like – I’m a three because I‘m at school, or after school I have a playdate with my best friend, or it’s swimming during phy ed today. Often another child would take the sad one in hand and cheer her up.

Mental health at all ages is very important. We should never dismiss moodiness as just a bad personality trait. As we grow older we should also not ignore mood swings. There are many causes including, dementia, menopause, ill health, and poor diet. When one is retired and no longer in a regular routine of work, exercise, and diet, one can let things slip and drink too much, eat too many treats, and even take in too much coffee! All these will affect mood! If we keep busy, eat correctly, and do a little exercise and still have mood swings, we should seek help straight away.