5 tips to nourish your child with emotional intelligence
Emotional intelligence has a decisive influence on our lives. AND correctly duck a child in emotional intelligence can bring you future benefits in many areas of your life: personal well-being, academic environment, work, interpersonal relationships, etc.
Emotional intelligence and future well-being
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 the Intellectual Quotient (IQ) was a predictor of success in life, but Studies have shown that the skills and abilities necessary to have a successful life are other , and the IQ alone, can not predict the correct personal development.
People with a high ability in emotional intelligence are happier, more creative, make better decisions, are spontaneous and know and they express their own emotions better .
But, How can a child be educated 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 you can help your child know and better regulate their own emotions, and so you can improve your interpersonal relationships in the future.
Tips for nurturing your child with emotional intelligence
1. Recognize your child's perspective and empathize with him
Although sometimes you can not do anything so your child does not feel sad one day, empathize with him . Being understood helps human beings to accept negative emotions. If your child's emotional response seems disproportionate to the situation, understand that each lives life in their own way and, in many cases, it is necessary to experience pain to continue growing.
But empathizing does not mean you have to agree, but it means that you understand their point of view. Feeling that someone understands our point of view can help us to have a bad time instead of staying anchored in a negative experience. Children learn empathy through experience, and since you can be a good role model for them, teach them to empathize and let them know that you understand their point of view.
It may interest you: "10 strategies to improve the self-esteem of your child"2. Let it be expressed
Accept your child's emotions instead of minimizing or rejecting them, otherwise you give him the message that some emotions are unacceptable and embarrassing.
Not approving or validating your negative emotions (for example, your anger) will not cause you to stop feeling those emotions, and may cause you emotional repression .
The repression of emotions causes that they do not disappear, because they need to express themselves, even without control. Instead, show him the great variety of emotions that exist and help him to accept that they are part of the human condition. That does not mean that to live in harmony with other individuals it is necessary to control some emotions (control is to know the meaning of emotion). If you accept his emotions you teach him that the emotional life is not dangerous, but that it is universal and manageable. This is beneficial since it helps you to 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 taken care of 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 have 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 your heart 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 a meaning, Teach your child to understand them , feel them and tolerate them without having to act on them, this reduces their intensity. Once these have been accepted, you can move on to problem solving.
When emotions are accepted, their intensity level drops and the mind is in a better position to solve problems. Teach him to be patient, to understand and regulate his own emotions. In this way, your emotional self-control will improve.
Studies in this field have shown that empathy is not enough to teach you 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 favor empowerment in your life, and will give you the opportunity to solve problems that may arise in your day to day.
5. Play to be emotionally intelligent
Through the game children learn skills , and this is a basic element in the life of a child, which besides being fun is necessary for its development. The game can provide many benefits, not only psychomotor level, but can help you better understand your emotions.
So, the game is useful to help experience emotions such as surprise, expectation, uncertainty or joy ; and can favor the development of the ability to solve emotional conflicts (personal and interpersonal).
In this video you can see an example of the importance of the game to help develop emotional intelligence.
