Child Welfare License (CWEL) Practice Exam 2026 – Complete Study Resource

Emotional regulation in children aged birth to 2 1/2 years involves how they manage their emotional responses and the degree of control they exhibit over their feelings. At this developmental stage, many children still struggle to process and express their emotions effectively, making it common for them to experience difficulty being consoled. This characteristic reflects their ongoing development of coping mechanisms, as they often lack the verbal skills to articulate their feelings or the cognitive skills to understand and navigate their emotional experiences.

While exhibiting intense excitement, extremely calming behavior, and continuous playfulness are behaviors that can be observed in young children, they are not direct indicators of emotional regulation challenges as seen in the struggle to be consoled. Therefore, recognizing the difficulty to console is key in understanding the emotional regulation process in this age group.