Emotional Education: 11 Activities To Promote It In Children
Do you know that emotional intelligence is vital for the development of children? Come in and discover the best exercises for little ones to discover and understand their own emotions.
The Emotional education It is the best way to help children learn not only to understand their emotions but to understand themselves. So much so that when they throw tantrums they show their inability to control their own emotions.
The first step to work on emotional intelligence is to educate children in the emotions Know what they are, recognize the physical symptoms associated with each one, and provide them with tools to control them. It is hard work, it requires dedication and patience because they are concepts that are a little complicated to understand, it is necessary to adapt the content to the age of each child.
So much so that we can say that the Emotional education It consists of understanding basic feelings as well as being able to enjoy good self-awareness, emotional control, self-motivation, empathy and social skills. Therefore, emotional education is basic to be able to have good communication with others and to achieve any success in our lives.
As you can see the emotional learning It is vital for children to develop habits not only in their education but for themselves.
Why is emotional education important?
The term of emotional intelligence in education It was popularized in the mid-90s by journalist Daniel Goleman. In this book he proposed that emotional education was vital so that children could develop to the maximum in all areas of life.
An important aspect that we must highlight about this emotional factor is that the emotional learning It can be educated from the first years of life. So much so that emotions can be worked on from a very young age. A good example of this is when we see babies a few months old being able to differentiate basic emotions such as anger and joy on their mother’s face.
In this way, we can observe how the emotional education and well-being It goes hand in hand. So much so that thanks to it, children can understand basic feelings and even the most complex ones. Learning these emotional skills will allow them to develop their maximum potential since without emotional charge or emotion there is no learning. This type of knowledge can also be fostered by consulting a child psychology professional.
How to promote emotional education?
Now that we have seen the importance of emotional learning, you will surely wonder what you can do so that children can develop this emotional factor. Here we will show you some guidelines with which you can teach them to know how to use emotions for life.
Report your own emotions: The more we talk to our children, the more information they will have and, as they grow and develop, the easier it will be for them to recognize what is happening to them. Information is power, it gives them security, knowing what will come next allows them to choose the necessary tools to overcome the situation.
Let them talk about their emotions: The next step is to work on your skills to control emotions that can overwhelm them. Educate them to express what they feel, drawing, with games, with photographs… We don’t lose anything by asking them how they had time at school, or if they liked the activity that they had today in the afternoon, or if they felt Nervous going to the new classmate’s birthday.
Use stories to explain different emotions: From a young age, children have emotions that will cost them more to express or define. In these cases, the ideal would be to try to use narratives or fiction to express different emotional states. In this way, stories are great allies for this, they can associate the emotions to the images in the book to make it clearer, they are told in the third person so that they can generalize and not worry when thinking that only they feel that way.
Active listening: The skill of active listening is the key to teaching in Emotional education This technique involves much more than just paying attention when others speak. In addition to listening carefully to the other, it is vital to actively follow the dialogue of others and demonstrate that what the other is trying to express to us has been understood.
Teach them a vocabulary of feelings: According to research by psychologist Lisa Barrett, interpersonal skills can be improved through learning different emotional vocabulary. So much so that one of the emotional intelligence activities The more effective it will be to understand the difference between the different types of emotions that exist.
Develop self-awareness: When we have good self-awareness, we run the risk of not realizing how we are with others and of not being able to correctly interpret each of the emotions we feel. So much so that in most cases, our emotional skills They improve the more we know ourselves.
Reflect: One of the most effective methods of Emotional education It is precisely those exercises that involve reflection on our capabilities. To understand an emotion it is vital to know why it came to us and how we can understand it.
Show empathy: Knowing empathy means not judging others and recognizing their emotions. In order to educate emotionally, it is vital to know how to show empathy when required so that children can learn from these actions.
Reflect the perspective of the other: Especially in conflicts, one of the most used techniques in Emotional education It is to show that we understand the other’s point of view.
Improve self-regulation: We could define self-regulation as the ability to manage thoughts and feelings. To help in the Emotional education It is vital for our children to teach self-regulation.
Helps encourage good mental health: Sometimes children express their emotional discomfort through a bad attitude. In many of these cases we may be facing a situation where there is a psychological cause. Therefore, it is essential to have the help of a specialist psychologist to help them in these situations.
The Emotional education It is vital for the good psychological development of children. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that children understand their emotions and know how to respect those of others.
