Reinforce emotional intelligence in children

Every child is different. Every child has its own personality, needs and wants. Similarly, the way a child expresses emotions in the various situation also varies. At the most fundamental level, the ability of the child to recognize and understand its own emotions and of others is called emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence or EQ helps the child to connect with self and others. This will enable the child to manage its behavior and relationships. Emotional intelligence is often tied to social and academic success. This cognitive soft skill which can be taught learned and improved. In an adult, it facilitates to transform intention into action, to make informed decisions about the things that matter, and to connect to others in prolific and nurturing ways. Advantages By nurturing and guiding your child’s emotional intelligence, you teach them essential skills for their success in life. Some advantages of e

  • It promotes self-awareness which will help to recognize and understand the emotion. This will give the child power to manage the response to any change.
  • Betters social-skills. With self-awareness, it is easy to understand how others are feeling. This builds successful emotional communication that is nonverbal and connects the child to other children and their emotions.
  • Remains internally motivated. An emotionally intelligent child has a sense of what’s important in life. As the child grows, it will start taking initiative, shows readiness to act on opportunities, remains optimistic and resilient.

Though emotional intelligence can also be taught at schools, a child first picks up these lessons from the secure circle of the family. How do we shape their personality and temperament towards being emotionally intelligent? Name the Emotion It is natural for any child to cry or throw a tantrum when he is unable to handle the strong overwhelming emotions. The vocabulary of the toddler is quite less to name every feeling. Whenever the child is angry, confused, sad, disappointed, frustrated, jealous, acknowledge those emotional outbursts. Name the emotion for them which will build their emotional vocabulary. Tell them how to handle such an emotion. By doing this you are developing his emotional intelligence quotient. Next time, he can cope with his feelings better, he can himself down from emotionally intense situations. toddler-tantrum Take care When your child is emoting verbally, do not cut him short. Be a good listener. By cutting short or silencing will make him feel that you are disrespecting his emotions. Show empathy. He will find comfort in you and he will be open to learning from you. When you are teaching him, do not brand or judge the emotions as good or bad. Train him to take a handle them appropriately. Activities Kids love indulging in activities. They learn while they play. Ask them to draw an emoticon to every emotion you say. This will help them build their emotional vocabulary. Read out a story; try to label the emotions of the characters. Watch a show together, talk about what the characters might be feeling. This will emphasize that fact that the child is not alone, and that there are many healthy ways to manage feelings. Broaden Social Circles Kids that have experience of meeting more people observe more emotions and more way of emoting. They develop an ability to understand and empathize more. It is imperative that parents make them meet a diverse set of people to help them develop emotional and social intelligence.  


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