People have always given importance to Intelligence Quotient (IQ), but now, they have also started realizing that Emotional Quotient (EQ) is equally essential. Emotional quotient and emotional intelligence mean the same, and people use these terms interchangeably. In today’s world, high achievers have one common string, i.e., high EQ. For the uninitiated, EQ refers to the ability to understand one’s own and other’s feelings better.
It also refers to the ability to express and manage feelings in a healthy way. It is why our staff at the Delhi Public School Kota, one of the best CBSE affiliated schools in Kota, pays equal importance and attention to both. If your kids develop high EQ, they can perform better at standardized tests, build better relationships, and improve their mental health.
The benefits of developing EQ are plenty, so you should take appropriate steps at home to nurture your kid’s EQ levels. To make it easier for you to work in this direction, we have shared here the top three ways parents can use to build their little one’s emotional intelligence at home. So, let’s read on.
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Show Empathy
When your kids get angry or upset, you may feel the need to minimize their emotions. However, it is important for you to know that suppressing or invalidating their emotions can lead to adverse effects. Instead of saying dismissive things to control their emotions, you must validate and acknowledge their feelings. Once children realize that you understand their feelings, they will not feel the strong urge to show you how they feel through their aggressive behavior.
It can significantly lower the instances of your children shouting, throwing things, or creating a ruckus when they experience negative emotions. Even if you aren’t clear why your child is upset at the moment, make it a priority to show empathy so that they start responding instead of reacting.
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Teach Healthy Coping Skills
One cannot avoid feeling negative emotions, but they can be effectively tackled to minimize adverse situations. Thus, you, as parents, should try and teach your kids some practical ways to help them understand their emotions and healthily deal with them. Once your kids learn how to cheer themselves up during the low phase, face their fears in challenging situations, or calm themselves during uncertain times, your kids will grow into positive and confident individuals.
However, remember, children cannot learn these things on their own. This makes it rather essential for parents and teachers to step up to take charge. At Delhi Public School Kota, our teachers have made it a priority to teach healthy coping skills to our students. You can also adopt various activities to instill coping skills in your children, such as taking bubble breaths, using a color book, listening to relaxation music, reading a comic book, going out for a walk, etc.
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Label Children’s Emotions
You must teach kids how to recognize their feelings. An effective way of practicing it is by labeling emotions. Even if you can accurately determine what your child is experiencing at the moment, try to label the emotion you feel the kid is experiencing. For example, if the child is upset for any reason, use sentences like ‘Are you feeling disappointed because of…’ Complete the sentence with whatever is the reason behind your child’s disappointment.
Painful, angry, upset, disappointed, shy, etc., are words they can use to fill their vocabulary to express feelings. To address positive emotions, you should also share positive words like excited, thrilled, happy, joy, hopeful, etc.
Conclusion
There are numerous ways to help children develop emotional intelligence. The three ways that we at Delhi Public School Kota, one of the top CBSE affiliated schools in Kota, have discussed here are among the most effective ways to do so. If you want to actively contribute to improving your child’s emotional intelligence, you can follow all the three ways discussed in this article or can try other ways as well. What’s important to understand here is building the emotional intelligence of kids is more of a necessity than an option. This especially holds true in today’s world, where there’s fierce competition in every sphere of life. As such, to stand out among the crowd and be able to make their mark, it is crucial that children not only have the knowledge and skills but also the emotional strength to cope with the challenges and problems they get posed with. Start working in this direction today!