Can You Teach A Child Emotional Intelligence?
Can You Teach A Child Emotional Intelligence?
I am sure every parent wants their child to have a happy, healthy, fulfilling, and meaningful life. It is impossible to have that kind of life without emotional intelligence.
It is one thing that the school does not teach however it’s something that every child would need to master to live their very best life. Can you teach a child emotional intelligence?
Yes, you most definitely can teach a child to develop and build their emotional intelligence at any age. It is not fixed and is not a limited skill that you are born with. There is plenty of opportunity for all children to improve with the right teachers and role models.
So, you may be wondering, what exactly is an emotionally intelligent child? Let’s discuss that next
What Is An Emotionally Intelligent Child?
The characteristics of an emotionally intelligent child are driven, assertive, enthusiastic, patient, and empathetic. They are most likely to be successful, can express and manage their feelings and emotions healthily, and have better mental health.
They are also known to have excellent social skills, get along with others well, always try to understand and respect others’ feelings, and have great thriving relationships.
Next, let’s discuss how to raise an emotionally intelligent child.
How To Raise An Emotionally Intelligent Child
We all experience different feelings and emotions and therefore need to learn how to manage them. There is no such thing as life without any emotions. It is not possible to live a good life without feeling a lot of different emotions (good and bad).
We must teach our children how to manage their emotions so that they can live their best life and be productive members of society. Here are four ways you can make sure that your child is emotionally intelligent
Learn To Master Your Own Emotions
You will have to first take the responsibility to work on your own emotions and improve your emotional intelligence as a parent or a guardian. Studies have shown that emotionally intelligent parents and guardians have a better chance of raising an emotionally intelligent child.
It is impossible to teach your children something you have not taken the time to master yourself. Children model what you do much more than what you tell them to do.
Get to know yourself, and the triggers that cause you to react to certain people, situations, and circumstances in your life. Ask for your children’s forgiveness for any inappropriate and exaggerated reactions from your past that were not justified.
Identify your habitual thought patterns, which then lead to your feelings, emotions, and actions. Know how you handle yourself when and why you are getting triggered, and what thoughts you have leading up to your reactions. Reclaim your freedom and learn to pause and process when started and then respond rather than react.
This process may involve reflection on your own childhood experiences and the way you were raised. It’s very important that you forgive, and heal your past wounds before you can master your emotions and teach your children how to do the same.
Encourage Your Child To Be Self-Aware
Encourage your child to practice mindfulness, spend some time in silence daily and get to know themselves and where they came from, who they are (soul with a body), why are they here (purpose), and what they desire in every area of their life.
It is important that they are aware and knows why and how they are getting triggered and reacting to others, situations, and life circumstances. It will be easier for you to teach your children to be self-aware if you have taken the time to do that yourself first.
Teach Healthy Ways To Process Emotions
Make your child aware that emotions have a purpose and have a part to play in their life. They sometimes come up to be worked on and help you clear energy blocks that can then lead to further health issues down the road.
Emotions sometimes warn us to get away from situations that are causing us to not feel good or to stay away from some people that trigger us because they are not meant to be in our lives.
We should never run away from our emotions and try to distract ourselves by getting into bad habits and addictions so that we don’t feel the pain that the emotion is causing. it’s important to sit in pain and fully feel the emotion to figure out what is it trying to tell you.
Teach your children to use different techniques like taking deep breaths to calm themselves down when experiencing unpleasant emotions, learning to solve their problems more creatively, healthily processing their emotions, and ways to cheer themselves up.
You can support your child by showing empathy, being patient, taking the time to sit with them and asking them questions, and helping them figure out why these emotions are coming up and what are they trying to tell them, and how they can work on them.
Take the opportunity to make them feel heard, seen, understood, and accepted. Make it clear and know it is always okay to self-advocate and seek help from others when needed.
Talk About Feelings Often
Make it a normal and ongoing practice to identify, name, and talk about your feelings as a family. Model appropriate ways to express and share your feelings with your children so they feel safe and comfortable to share their feelings with you.
Let them know that processing and working on your emotions that come up is a lifelong journey. You will get better and better at processing your emotions and returning to your true nature, and higher self, and live by the qualities of your soul which are love, peace, compassion, kindness, and joy faster with practice.
In conclusion, you now know that you can teach a child to develop and build their emotional intelligence at any age. It is not fixed and is something that you are born with. There is plenty of opportunity for all children to improve with the right teachers and role models.
An emotionally intelligent child is driven, assertive, enthusiastic, patient, and empathetic. More likely to be successful, can express and manage their feelings and emotions healthily and have better mental health.
Possess excellent social skills, get along with others well, always try to understand and respect other’s feelings, and have great thriving relationships
You also know that you can raise an emotionally intelligent child by first learning to master your own emotions, encouraging your child to be self-aware, teaching healthy emotions processing habits, and talking about feelings often.
I wish you all the best with learning to master your own emotions and teaching children to be emotionally intelligent.
Next, read Can emotional intelligence be improved and developed read for further helpful tips and insights.