Matilda's Emotional Development

Despite Matilda’s awful upbringing, she has the capabilities to take care of herself and regulate her emotional development. According to Richard Lazarus, Matilda exhibits problem-focused coping where the child “involves such things as seeking information, generating a different solution and taking action to modify the situation” (Meece & Daniels, 2008, p. 347). When her family is not interacting or communicating with her, she goes to the library and finds someone who understands her. She is able to self-regulate her emotions, which is a good tool to adjust to transitions, such as going to a new school (p. 346). In the book, Matilda’s father destroys one of her library books, and “most children in Matilda's place would have burst into floods …show more content…
Teachers are a way of fostering emotions outside of the home. Miss Honey is able to comfort Matilda from what is happening at home because she has similar experiences with negative role models. “‘You are so much wiser than your years, my dear,’ Miss Honey went on, ‘that it quite staggers me. Although you look like a child, you are not really a child at all because your mind and your powers of reasoning seem to be fully grown-up. So I suppose we might call you a grown-up child’” (Dahl, 2007, p. 190). Miss Honey creates a sense of warmth and welcomeness, a way that Goleman (1995) believes helps students with their emotional competence in school (Meece & Daniels, 2008, p. 348). Emotional competence means knowing how to express and regulate a variety of emotions, knowing how to express oneself effectively (p. 349). A few examples of the emotional skills Goleman proposes are identifying, expressing and managing emotions; controlling impulses and knowing the difference between feelings and actions (p. 349). These are a few of the beliefs that Goleman wants teachers to help their students. There can be students with issues at home that affect the way they are in school. Not all students have a welcoming family, but having someone to talk to at school helps the students feel accepted. Matilda has gone most of her life not having someone to talk to at home, but having Miss Honey at school helps her emotionally, showing that she is not alone. Miss Honey shares with Matilda that the bully, Principal Trunchbull, is her aunt and that you cannot choose your family. Matilda feels a bond between herself and Miss Honey, both of them knowing they can share with each