How can you tell they’ve got it: Feelings Versus Actions?

If they’ve got it, you’ll see things like: emotion regulation development research; Effects of Age and Gender in Emotion Regulation (PMC 2020); expressive control to emotion regulation (PMC). Or just try it together: Does your child understand that feeling angry, scared, or jealous doesn't mean they have to act on it immediately — that there's a gap between the feeling and what they choose to do next?

Personal & Social Development Self-Awareness Ages 6–8

Feelings Versus Actions

Your child knows that a feeling and an action are not the same. They can feel angry or jealous without having to act on it right away.

In curriculum terms

Understand that feelings and actions are separate — you can feel something strongly without having to act on it straight away

Ages are typical, not deadlines — follow your child’s pace. How to help at home →

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

emotion regulation development research
Effects of Age and Gender in Emotion Regulation (PMC 2020)
expressive control to emotion regulation (PMC)

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

Does your child understand that feeling angry, scared, or jealous doesn't mean they have to act on it immediately — that there's a gap between the feeling and what they choose to do next?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Naming Your Feelingsages 5–6Understanding that feelings and actions are separate requires first being able to name and identify what you are feeling

Vocabulary: selfages 5–10Understanding the feelings-actions separation requires vocabulary to distinguish and name each component

Feelings Versus Actionsthis skill · ages 6–8

Unlocks

Patterns in Your Own Reactionsages 7–9Noticing patterns in your reactions requires first understanding that feelings and responses are separable — you can only track a pattern once you're aware of the gap between feeling and action

Your Impact on Othersages 8–9Reflecting on impact requires understanding that your actions were choices, not automatic responses to feelings — the feelings/actions distinction underpins social accountability

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Where this fits in the official school curriculum — our best automated guess, not yet checked by a person.

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 3 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9HP4P06medium confidenceYear 3–4 · Personal, social and community health

explain how and why emotional responses can vary and practise strategies to manage their emotions

AC9HP2P03low confidenceYear 1–2 · Personal, social and community health

identify how different situations influence emotional responses

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2HP4P06medium confidenceHealth and Physical Education · Levels 3 and 4 · Personal, Social and Community Health – Health Education strand

VC2HP2P04low confidenceHealth and Physical Education · Levels 1 and 2 · Personal, Social and Community Health – Health Education strand

VC2HPFP04low confidenceHealth and Physical Education · Foundation · Personal, Social and Community Health – Health Education strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Naming Your Feelingsages 5–6 Patterns in Your Own Reactionsages 7–9 Vocabulary: selfages 5–10 Your Impact on Othersages 8–9

All Self-Awareness skills →