Emotionally intelligent children learn four skills from a young age

Emotionally intelligent children learn four skills from a young age

Published 31.10.2023 | By Йосиф

Emotionally intelligent children learn four skills from a young age

Children with high emotional intelligence have the necessary tools to navigate their feelings and relationships with others in a healthy and secure way.

The key skills for this are self-awareness, self-control and motivation.

But one of the most often overlooked components is empathy, explain parenting experts cited by the Apostille.

They advise to start the education of children from an early age. Here’s how.

1. Perception of different points of view

Accepting perspectives does not mean having the same experiences as someone else or deciding whether their experiences are real.

When a child pulls his shirt and says, ” I don’t like it. I want another one!”we can model the perception of perspective by believing that the experience is real.

It is not a parent’s job to convince them that the blouse is perfectly comfortable by reminding them that they have worn it before. They need to go outside themselves and witness their child’s experiences.

“This blouse is uncomfortable for you and you want to change it,” is a suitable answer, according to experts.

2. Do not condemn

This means practicing awareness of our prejudices and self-regulation so that we can see the child’s experiences without prejudice.

So instead of reacting with, ” you don’t have to be so upset. It’s just a blouse”, avoiding judgment is simply noticing what the child is experiencing: “Why Are you upset, is the blouse really so uncomfortable”.

3. Recognition of emotions

Recognizing emotions means connecting with what your child is feeling, not the reasons why they’re feeling it.

So when your child comes to you upset, take some time to express out loud how he feels. “Wow, you’re disappointed, it’s really hard.”

Then remember and share a moment when you dealt with the emotion he was expressing so you could connect with him about how he was feeling.

This teaches children that if they know what disappointment feels like, they can choose to empathize with it, regardless of the reason someone else is experiencing it.

4. Show understanding

The transmission of our understanding of emotions is the moment when the connection happens: “I see you. I understand. This is so hard.”

For example, you say to your best friend, “the last few nights I’ve been so tired that the idea of having dinner tomorrow seems exhausting.”

A good understanding from your friend may sound like, “I understand you, you’re exhausted, no problem.”

This is good because he is not trying to convince you or belittle your experience, but is empathetic to your problem and listens to you.

When your child sees you doing this for the people you care about, they learn the valuable lesson of how to be a better friend and member of society.

5. Pass the empathy on

Just as we build self-regulation skills by working together with the child, we also teach emotional intelligence by responding to children with empathy.

Connect with your child and imagine what message might be hiding under his behavior.

Trust them and let them make mistakes. When you do this, you teach them that your love for them is unconditional.

Finally, don’t forget to pause to say “I love you.” It is impossible to spoil children with love.

Alicia Campbell is an expert in parenting and emotional development. With a master’s degree in early childhood education, she founded Urga & Urga – a platform for courses in emotional intelligence. She is also the author of “Little People, Big Emotions”.

Lauren Staubel is an associate professor of early childhood education at the U.S. Department of Education and co-author of “Little People, Big Emotions.” She has 18 years of experience in anti-prejudice Education, administers programs and teaches courses for parents.

https://profit.bg/svezho/emotsionalno-inteligentnite-detsa-vladeyat-chetiri-umeniya-ot-malki-eto-koi/