5 Ways To Make Your Child Emotionally Intelligent

First of all, ‘Happy International Day of Education’ to the most important educators in the world - Parents! We know that our kids learn more from their own homes than from 4 walled classrooms. So we are bringing to you the secret potion behind almost every successful individual in the world. It’s called emotional intelligence.

Picture Credits: Generation Mindful

Children are like sponges and they soak a lot more than we think they do. They are capable of processing situations and the responses of the people around them. They gauge new environments and concepts at alarming rates often with a sense of wonder. This is all because their brains are growing at a rapid rate. Yet, there is one area they find difficult to cope with on their own - Emotions!

This is the one area that we need to help them with the most, and sadly it’s the one area we are least informed about. Researchers say that emotionally intelligent children have a 54% chance of being successful in life compared to the other kids. In addition, young people with a high EQ earn higher grades, make healthier choices, build lasting relationships and they generally have better mental health than average.

Here are the 5 ways to make your child emotionally intelligent.

1. Teach them to identify their emotions

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It’s very important for a child to be able to tell one emotion from another because labeling an emotion makes it easier for them to deal with it. When they get into the habit of labeling their emotions it helps them relate to specific emotions and how it makes them feel.

You can teach them to do this by labeling your own emotions when you speak to them. For example, “I am angry because your dad broke my favorite vase” or “I am happy because you ate all the food served on your plate today”

You can even label their emotions for them based on how you suspect they feel. For example, “Are you sad that you didn’t win the race?” Or “Are you angry that your classmate lost your favorite pen?”. This will help them develop the habit of labeling how they feel.

We understand that emotions may seem to be very complex for children who often can’t tell one emotion from the other. This is why we have put together a game called “Finding Emos” that helps children identify their emotions in a fun and engaging way. This game will help build their vocabulary to correctly express how they feel.

2. Feel the vibe

Picture Credits: suricategames.com

Apart from recognising their own emotions children also need to recognise the mood or the vibe of a particular setting at a particular time. For example, your house might feel much more relaxed on a Sunday morning than on a festival day, in the same way the vibe at the park will be different from that in a library. Bring these differences to your child’s notice and ask them what they feel about different settings. This is also a great opportunity to inform your kids about what kind of behaviour is socially accepted at different places at different times.

This will help make them more alert to understand social cues, which is a necessary social skill that they will need throughout their life.

3. Teach them Empathy

Picture Credits: Yes! Magazine

Empathy doesn’t mean agreement, it means understanding another person.

You can empathize with your kids by acknowledging how your child feels and encouraging positive expressions of their emotions. Parents often complain about emotional outbursts from their kids and they have no clue as to what triggered it.

Suppressing or downplaying their emotions will only make it worse for both them and you in the long run, instead give them an open and safe space to express how they feel. Give them a listening ear without judgement and don’t interrupt them when they speak. Let them have all your attention for those few important minutes. You will notice that these outbursts will gradually reduce.

Empathizing with your child doesn’t mean that you agree with everything they say. It just means that you understand how they feel. By validating their feelings you help them understand that it’s okay to feel how they feel, but they shouldn’t let their feelings lead them to express themselves negatively.

When you empathize with them, they in turn learn to empathize with others and this matures their minds, to seeing things from more than just one perspective. When they learn to consider the feelings of other people they learn to be team players, which is a very important quality for an individual to have today.

4. Teach them coping and problem solving skills

Picture Credits: Westislandblog

After kids learn to identify their emotions, they need to learn how to cope with them in a productive and positive manner. Which is why it is necessary to teach them specific coping skills. Like taking deep-breaths when they are angry, remembering happy memories when they are sad, or using colours/ drawings to communicate when they can’t find the words to express what they are feeling.

Learning to use these coping mechanisms to help them solve the impending problem is very important. This doesn’t mean that you give them a ready solution for the problem at hand, instead give your child 4-5 different ways in which this problem can be solved and encourage them to choose the best option from themselves.

As you develop this habit with your kids they will learn to use this same technique to solve much bigger problems later on in life. 

5. Play makes it better.

Picture Credits: Highlights Magazine

While EQ is an extremely important aspect of a child’s overall development, most of it can’t really be done by sitting them down, especially because they just won’t!

Kids are too busy running around, fidgeting with things they shouldn’t be touching and playing. So sometimes the best way to get through to them is through play.

That is why we have taken it upon ourselves to make EQ learning more fun, engaging and educational. Our one-of-a-kind EQ based toys will teach your kids essential skills that your children will use throughout their life. From identifying emotions to anger management techniques to accomplishing daily goals, we have covered it all.

So pledge to make your child emotionally intelligent by playing a game, after all #PlayMakesUsBetter .