5 Tips To Nurture Your Child With Emotional Intelligence
Emotional intelligence has a decisive influence on our lives. AND correctly train a child in emotional intelligence It can bring you future benefits in many areas of your life: personal well-being, academics, work, interpersonal relationships, etc.
The ability to manage one’s own feelings and those of other people is the basis of emotional intelligence, an important tool that can be learned from a young age. It had always been thought that Intelligence Quotient (IQ) was a predictor of success in life, but Studies have shown that the abilities and skills necessary to have a successful life are different and IQ alone cannot predict correct personal development.
People with a high skill in emotional intelligence are happier, more creative, make better decisions, are spontaneous and know and express their own emotions better
But, How can you educate a child in emotional intelligence? Although educating a child in emotional intelligence is the task of both parents and teachers, if you are a parent, here are some tips so that you can help your child to better know and regulate their own emotions, and so that they can improve their interpersonal relationships in the future.
Tips to nurture your child with emotional intelligence
1. Recognize your child’s perspective and empathize with him
Even though sometimes you can’t do anything to stop your child from feeling sad one day, empathize with him Being understood helps humans accept negative emotions. If your child’s emotional response seems disproportionate to the situation, he understands that everyone lives life in their own way and, on many occasions, it is necessary to experience pain to continue growing.
But empathizing doesn’t mean you have to agree, it means you understand their point of view. Feeling that someone understands our point of view can help us get through a bad time instead of staying stuck in a negative experience. Children learn empathy through experience, and since you can be a good model for them, teach them to empathize and let them know that you understand their point of view.
You may be interested in: “10 strategies to improve your child’s self-esteem”
2. Let it express itself
Accept your child’s emotions instead of minimizing or rejecting them, otherwise you send the message that some emotions are unacceptable and shameful.
Not approving or validating your negative emotions (for example, your anger) will not stop you from feeling those emotions, and may cause you to emotional repression .
The repression of emotions causes them to not disappear, since they need to be expressed, even without control. Instead, teach him the wide variety of emotions that exist and help him accept that they are part of the human condition. This does not mean that to live in harmony with other individuals it is necessary to control some emotions (to control is to know the meaning of the emotion). If you accept his emotions you teach him that the emotional life is not dangerous, but rather it is universal and manageable. This is beneficial as it helps you accept yourself as you are.
3. Actively listen to your child
Active listening is about listening to children trying to understand what they tell us and what they feel. That is, the emotional component (feelings, emotions, sensations, etc.) is addressed first before the rational component (ideas, beliefs, knowledge, etc.).
Pay attention to what your child is trying to tell you when he confesses his thoughts and emotions, and then let him know that you understood him. For example, if you suspect that your child may be hurt because you have spent a lot of time with a new child, invite him to open his heart to you and tell you. Then you can use examples from your own life to show him that you understand him. This can help you understand that we all feel pleasant emotions and painful emotions.
4. Teach him to solve problems
Since emotions are messages with meaning, teach your child to understand them, feel them and tolerate them without having to act on them, thus reducing their intensity. Once these have been accepted, you can move on to problem solving.
When emotions are accepted, their level of intensity decreases and the mind is better able to solve problems. Teach him to be patient, to understand and regulate his own emotions. In this way, you will improve your emotional self-control.
Studies in this field have shown that empathy is not enough to teach you how to manage your own emotions, because for emotional control it is necessary to master other emotional intelligence skills Teach your child to identify, label, understand and regulate emotions, as it will promote empowerment in their life, and will give them the opportunity to solve problems that may arise in their daily lives.
5. Play at being emotionally intelligent
Through play children learn skills, and this is a basic element in a child’s life, which in addition to being fun is necessary for their development. The game can bring you many benefits, not only on a psychomotor level, but it can help you better understand his emotions.
Therefore, the game is useful to help experience emotions such as surprise, expectation, uncertainty or joy ; and can promote the development of the ability to resolve emotional conflicts (personal and interpersonal).
In this video you can see an example of the importance of play to help develop emotional intelligence.
