5 tips to nurture your child with emotional intelligence

The emotional intelligence decisively influences our life. ANDcorrectly train a child in emotional intelligence It can bring you future benefits in many areas of your life: personal well-being, academia, work, interpersonal relationships, etc.

Emotional intelligence and future well-being

The ability to handle one's own and other people's feelings is the foundation of emotional intelligence, an important tool that can be learned from a young age. Intelligence Quotient (IQ) had always been thought to be 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, cannot predict the Personal development Right.

People with a high ability in emotional intelligence are happier, more creative, make better decisions, are spontaneous and know and express their own emotions better.

But, How can you educate a child 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 that you can help your child to better know and regulate his own emotions, and so that he can improve his interpersonal relationships in the future.

Tips for nurturing your child with emotional intelligence

1. Acknowledge your child's perspective and empathize with him

Although sometimes you can not do anything so that your child does not feel sad one day, empathize with him. Being understood helps human beings accept negative emotions. If your child's emotional response seems disproportionate to the situation, he understands that each one lives life his way and, on many occasions, it is necessary to experience pain to continue growing.

But empathizing doesn't mean you have to agree, it means you understand his point of view. Feeling that someone understands our point of view can help us through a bad time instead of being stuck in a negative experience. Children learn empathy through experience, and since you can be a good role model for him, teach him to empathize and let him know that you understand his point of view.

It may interest you: "10 strategies to improve your child's self-esteem"

2. Let it express itself

Accept your child's emotions instead of minimizing or rejecting them, otherwise you send the message that some emotions are unacceptable and embarrassing.

Failure to approve or validate your negative emotions (for example, anger) will not cause you to stop feeling those emotions, and may cause emotional repression.

The repression of emotions causes them not to disappear, since they need to express themselves, even without control. Instead of that, show him the great variety of emotions that exist and help him accept that they are part of the human condition. This does not mean that to live in harmony with other individuals it is necessary to control some emotions (to control is to know the meaning of the emotion). If you accept his emotions, you teach him that emotional life is not dangerous, but that it is universal and manageable. This is beneficial as it helps you accept yourself for who you are.

3. Actively listen to your child

The active listening it is about listening to children trying to understand what they say and what they feel. That is, the emotional component (feelings, emotions, sensations, etc.) is attended first 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 understand him. For example, if you suspect that your child may be hurt because you've spent a lot of time with a new child, invite him to open his heart to you and tell you about it. You can then use examples from your own life to show that you understand. 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, thus reducing their intensity. Once these have been accepted, you can move on to troubleshooting.

When emotions are accepted, their intensity level drops and the mind is better able to solve problems. Teach him to be patient, to understand and regulate his own emotions. In this way, improve your emotional self-control.

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 skills of emotional intelligence. Teach your child to identify, label, understand and regulate emotions, since it will promote empowerment in your life, and it will give you the opportunity to solve the problems that may arise in your day to day.

5. Play at being emotionally intelligent

Through play children learn skills, and this is a basic element in the life of a child, which in addition to being fun is necessary for its development. Gambling can bring you many benefits, not only on a psychomotor level, but it can also help you better understand his emotions.

Therefore, the game is useful to help to experience emotions such as surprise, expectation, uncertainty or joy; and it can favor the development of the ability to solve emotional conflicts (personal and interpersonal).

On this video You can see an example of the importance of the game to help develop emotional intelligence.