It’s nearly impossible to talk about behavior and learning without talking about emotion. Emotion affects how we act and react to situations throughout our day. Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify, evaluate, control, and express emotions.
Children with high EQ usually make great leaders and team players because of their ability to understand, empathize, and connect with the people around them.
A high EQ means children are equipped to identify and control their emotions (and actions). With these skills, children can easily reject the choices that often lead to discipline issues in school. Some schools have begun to add Emotional Intelligence lessons into their curriculum and parents can also nurture emotional intelligence in children at home.
5 STRATEGIES FOR BUILDING EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
DISCUSS FEELINGS
Help your child recognize and name their feelings. When you notice your child being angry, say “I see that you’re angry”. When your child is frustrated, say “I see that you’re frustrated”, and so forth. Your child will catch on and begin to be able to name their own feelings.
VALIDATE FEELINGS
Allow your child to feel. Help her find the words to express what she is feeling. Parents don’t like to see their children upset and often look to fix things before actually dealing with the whys. Give your child the chance to feel the emotion, then help her figure out how to get through what she is feeling.
USE EVERYDAY LIFE
When children get into conflicts, help them deal with them positively. For example, during a get together your child and her friend get into an argument about something. Instead of jumping in to fix everything, help the girls work through what the issue is and come to a peaceful agreement.
GET CREATIVE
Play games that help identify emotions. Charades is a great game that allows for a myriad of emotions. Put on a puppet show. Acting allows for plenty of opportunity to have fun while learning about different emotions.
BE A ROLE MODEL
Let your child see how you handle your emotions. When we’re happy we have no problem letting the world know. However, parents often hide negative emotions from their children in an effort to protect them. Let your child see you “feeling” and let them see you overcome those feelings. This will let them know it’s ok to have a variety of emotions and equip them with the tools on how to deal with those emotions.
What strategies do you use to build emotional intelligence? Share with us below.
This post was originally published on Helping Kids Rise and is reprinted here with permission. Follow along on Twitter for more!
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