The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Parenting Essentials team released a video teaching parents how to use emotion-coaching techniques [1].
This resource provides parents with practical tools to help toddlers and preschool-age children recognize and manage their feelings. By focusing on emotional regulation, the agency aims to support healthy child development during critical early years.
The instructional content, published in 2026 [1], focuses on helping children understand and regulate their emotions. The video is available on the CDC’s YouTube channel and for download from the agency's official website [1], [2].
Emotion coaching is designed to help children cope with what the agency describes as "big feelings" in a healthy way. The guidance provides science-backed strategies that parents can implement during daily interactions to foster emotional intelligence.
The video includes demonstrations of parent-child interactions to show how these techniques work in real-world settings. This approach allows caregivers to move from simply reacting to a child's outburst to coaching them through the emotional experience.
By providing these tools, the CDC Parenting Essentials team seeks to reduce the stress associated with toddler tantrums and emotional volatility. The program emphasizes the importance of the caregiver's role in validating a child's emotions, and guiding them toward productive coping mechanisms.
“The CDC released a video teaching parents how to use emotion-coaching techniques.”
The release of these resources reflects a broader public health effort to integrate emotional literacy into early childhood development. By standardizing emotion-coaching techniques through a federal agency, the CDC is treating emotional regulation as a foundational component of pediatric health and behavioral wellness.




