Interoception Questions with Kelly-Episode 3: Interoception Tips for Caregivers

If you want to increase your child’s interoception awareness, this video is the perfect resource for you to get started. In this video, we talk about one of our top interoception tips for parents and caregivers to use when looking to enhance their child’s interoceptive awareness.

Parents always ask questions about what they can do to enhance their child’s interoception skills. Our number one piece of advice is to do the interoception talk. You may be asking yourself now, “What does that mean?”

Body Talk

Interoception talk can also be called body talk. Be aware of how your body feels and talk about that with your child. Say things like:

• “When I’m holding this glass of water, my hands are cold!”
• “When I run around outside with you, my heart rate goes up, so it beats fast!”
• “When I step into the cold, it makes my muscles feel tight.”

Labeling these things out loud for your children can help them become more aware of how their own bodies are feeling. You are demonstrating to them how to recognize the feelings in their body, and you are also increasing your awareness through this process! Research finds that the more in touch with ourselves, the better off we are when being present and dealing with anxiety, stress, and emotional regulation.

By becoming more aware of how your body feels, you can manage those feelings more effectively and be a calmer, more present parent or caregiver. So, talking that interoception talk and labeling the way your body feels openly not only benefits the child but benefits you as well.

As your child gets older and starts to communicate with you, you can ask them questions about how their body feels in different scenarios. For example, how does running around outside with bare feet make your feet feel? These questions are our top interoception tip for parents, will help your child become more aware of how their bodies feel, and increase their interoception awareness.

How Often Should Interoception Talk Come Up?

Every day, there are natural opportunities to bring up body talk with your children in the activities you’re already doing. As you are helping them get ready in the morning, you can ask them how washing their face makes their face feel. Or, while playing with toys, you can ask how their toys make their hands feel. Small moments like these make it easy to embed interoception talk into your everyday life and increase your child’s interoceptive awareness.

If you want more resources, we have a video series of interoception tips for parents, caregivers, and anyone interested in learning about this topic.