This study investigated mother-child discourse about negative emotional experiences concerning emotion regulation at dinner time over a period of four years (Time1 to Time4). The target mother and children included a mother of three, with two boys aged five and nine, and a girl of seven. Mother-child discourse about negative emotional experiences also involved experiences that occurred in interpersonal situations. Mother-child discussion was more focused on complex experiences directly related to target children over Time4. They spoke more about coping with the experiences positively and they also spoke about re-interpreting the experiences over Time4. It was suggested that the context of mother-child discourse was especially rich in such discussion of re-interpreting negative emotional experience. The results highlight the significance of family discourse about negative emotional experiences in school childrens'emotional understanding.