How does my 7 yr old daughter feel

She has mixed emotions? 🙁.. Mostly sadness due to all the black used.

Can you ask her to explain the specific sections?
When I look at it it seems like she’s holding a lot and unsure how to process.

The emotions she is holding are floating with her in a heart shaped balloon which makes me think she knows she is loved and safe to share this with you.

The figure that is her is not necessarily holding a sad face.

But I’d ask specifically about the color used.
Ask about the type of background lines used as as the dots.
And I’m super curious what the figure is in the bottom left corner.

Try to put your own feelings aside and just stay curious.

I would just ask her.

Say you want to talk to her about the picture. Ask her what her inspiration was. Ask her to tell you about the balloon..

Just create a safe, non judgemental space, and listen.

Thank you everyone for your feedback. We did have a discussion. she said she used black because it's the only color she head but she colored the background because she says her mind is dark and hard to see she said she drew the little creature at the bottom left because she thought it was funny the sad face is because she's the oldest out of 4 she said she doesn't like when her sisters bug her when she wants to be left alone but when she wants to play with them they don't play right she said the face on the bottom right is because she scared at night she had a bad dream that someone came in the window and took her family away the happy face is because she loves her family and her school and the face on the bottom left is because she has to be serious sometimes.. she said she drew her heart as a balloon because she thought it was cool... She's having a hard time growing up and I believe she feels a lot of pressure being the oldest. I'll hear her say I want to be preschool again and play with toys in school

Like her 4 yr old sister, and she goes I want to do fun things like her 6 yr old sister.. my 6 yr old daughter is autistic with ADHD and she has a behavioral IEP she also is in a classroom with a few students so they do things in class like positive reinforcement like giving them fake money and once they get enough they can buy something with it. And that makes my 7 yr old jealous

Well done for having the discussion with her! Overall your daughter sounds like an articulate gal! A lot of people would struggle to tune in & give words to their feelings (even as adults), so this sounds like it was an opportunity for positive connection moving forward.

thank you ❤️ Its important for me to have this connection with her and the rest of my kids I don't believe kids should just put their heads down and blindly listen to their parents until their 18. They are small humans with feelings and I want to be sure I'm a safe space for my kids to come to so they can express their feelings

For a 7 year old, it sounds like she’s communicated her feelings really well to you during you discussion, and well done you for validating these ❤️

Just out of curiosity, what scheme does school use to teach emotions? I only ask because the way she’s split the balloon into 4 - sad, happy, worried / anxious, and angry are very similar to the ‘zones of regulation’ scheme many schools use.

It’s split into 4 zones - blue (understimulated) usually associated with sad, tired, bored, poorly. Green (everything’s ok) - happy, calm. Yellow (overstimulated) - worried, frustrated, anxious. Red (lost control of emotions / need help to regulate) - angry, scared etc.

Then to me looks like she’s drawn herself as ‘yellow zone’ - frustrated etc which would fit into what she’s communicated to you - eg - younger sibling bugging her.

May be an idea to have a little look into zones of regulation (lots of info / resources online) and it may be something you can also implement at home to help her…

…communicate / express her feelings more and open up more discussions xxx