The power of emotions over thoughts and behavior is immense and they alone have the power to make great changes in us and in our lives. Knowing how to master them and how to use them properly is essential to progressing well in life and to cope with all the situations that come before us. Playing an essential role in the development of our personality, emotional intelligence is beneficial to everyone and especially to the youngest.
For Daniel Goleman, author of the book emotional intelligence, the latter corresponds, to the exclusion of pure intelligence, to different abilities of an individual that allow him to succeed in life. For him, these abilities are five in number:
- Self-awareness
- Self control
- Motivation
- Empathy
- The mastery of human relations
Why is emotional intelligence useful for children?
It is essential to know how to identify emotions, to understand them and to know how to manage them in order to be able to cope with all the situations in the best and healthiest conditions and to make the best of them. It is for this reason, and because emotional intelligence develops from childhood, that it is advisable to work and stimulate it in children. Your children will have every chance to become well-rounded adults and succeed in life.
Among the many ways to teach emotional intelligence, here are seven that you could use right now with your children:
1. Teach him to recognize emotions and allow him to feel empathy
Teach your child to recognize other people's emotions, but also empathy by asking questions such as, "How does this boy feel? ", " What happened to him ? "Why does he feel like that? ". And also teach him to recognize his own. Ask him, for example, "How do you feel? "Why do you feel like that? ".
To exercise it in the place of others and to understand that others do not necessarily perceive the same things as him, ask your child things such as: "Why your brother cries he? How do you think your sister feels after what you did to her? ".
These questions make children think and motivate them to think in a way that will lead them to consider the feelings of others, day by day.
2. Teach him to name emotions
According to the specialists, children should be able to put a name on the emotions of the everyday life from the age of 5 years old. Teach your child and encourage them to express as often as possible with words and phrases such as "I am angry / sad / happy because ..." or "I'm afraid that ...", etc.
3. Teach him to communicate
Teach your child to interact by talking to him, asking questions, asking him to tell things to encourage him to express his thoughts, ideas and feelings.
4. Teach him to listen
A child should not only be silent when you talk to him, but also listen to you. To teach him to listen actively, stand in front of him, at his height and punctuate your speech with questions such as "do you agree? Or "what did you understand? ".
5. Make him feel confident
Allow your child to express himself without fear of disapproval on your part of his moods or feelings. Provide him with a climate of trust and understanding where he can talk openly about what is bothering him, makes him happy or sad. This is a habit he will take, to exteriorize his emotions, rather than keep everything for himself, something that could lead to mental and behavioral disorders.
6. Teach him to solve problems
Instead of just explaining things to her, ask your child questions. Help him find solutions to problematic situations by asking him, for example, "what do you think you should do? How could you succeed in doing this? ". Let him try, be wrong and succeed on his own.
7. Show him the example
We already know that the best way to make someone adopt a behavior is to be yourself the example. Do not hesitate to show your child that you sometimes feel sad and gloomy, but that you manage to overcome this. Let him see how you manage your own emotions.
