What Are 4 Ways We Can Build Emotional Intelligence in our Kids?
Do you want your kids to be successful in life? Of course, you do! And one of the best ways to help them succeed is to help them build their emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is the ability to recognize and understand your own emotions and the emotions of others. Here are four ways you can help your kids boost their emotional intelligence.
Reading Facial Expressions and Body Language
As a parent, you want your teens to be successful in everything they do. You want them to be able to navigate the world with ease and confidence. You can help them by teaching them how to read facial expressions and body language. This emotional awareness will help them be more emotionally intelligent.
You can start by teaching them to recognize people's nonverbal cues. For example, if someone has their arms crossed or avoids eye contact, they may feel uncomfortable or closed off. On the other hand, if someone is smiling and leaning forward, they are likely interested and engaged in the conversation. Teaching teens to read these cues will better understand how others feel and respond accordingly.
In addition, you can also teach your teens some basic emotional intelligence skills. For instance, you can show them how to regulate their emotions by taking a few deep breaths or counting to 10 before responding to a situation. You can also teach them how to empathize with others by trying to see things from their perspective. With these tools, your teens will be better equipped to navigate the emotional landscape of life.
Understanding & Labelling their Own Emotions
Teens can often be overwhelmed by their emotions, leading to emotional outbursts. But if they can identify their feelings, they can begin to understand what triggers them. This self-awareness is the first step in emotional regulation. Once they know their triggers, they can start to put needs in place to avoid or manage them. For example, if they know that being around large crowds makes them anxious, they can plan to avoid crowded places or bring along a friend for support.
Expressing Positive & Negative Feelings
One of the most critical things we can do to develop our emotional intelligence is to become aware of our emotional triggers- those things that set off a strong emotional response in us. Once we know what sets us off, we can begin to work on self-regulation- learning to control our emotions and respond more positively. For example, let's say you have a trigger by feeling like you are not being listened to. In the past, you may have responded by becoming angry and yelling. However, once you become aware of this emotional trigger, you can begin to work on responding more positively. Maybe next time, instead of getting angry, you take a deep breath and calmly explain how you feel. This small change can make a big difference in your emotional well-being.
It is also essential to express our emotions healthily. Repressing or suppressing our emotions can lead to problems down the road. Instead, we should find healthy outlets for our feelings- writing, talking to a friend, or participating in some creative activity. Healthily expressing our emotions can help us to better understand ourselves and develop healthier relationships with those around us.
Handling Difficult Emotions
One of the most important things we can do for our teens is to teach them how to handle difficult emotions in healthy ways. We see emotionally reactive people all too often, meaning they let their emotions control them instead of being in control of their feelings. This can lead to problems in their personal lives and relationships with others. But it doesn't have to be this way. Teaching our teens emotional awareness and self-regulation can help them learn how to manage their emotions effectively.
One way to do this is to help them become aware of their emotional triggers. What are the things that tend to set off their emotional reactions? If they can identify these triggers, they can begin working on managing them. This may involve changing their environment (e.g., avoiding stressful situations), learning new coping skills (e.g., deep breathing or visualization), or simply becoming more self-aware to catch themselves before they get too emotional. Whatever the approach, the goal is to help them learn how to respond to their emotions in a more balanced and healthy way.
Conclusion
We must build emotional intelligence in our kids so they can grow up to be well-rounded, successful adults. Luckily, we can do a few key things to help them develop this critical skill set. We can teach our kids to read body language and facial cues. They must understand and process their emotions, address both positive and negative emotions, and learn how to handle difficult emotions. The How Are You Feeling program is a great foundational step to help kids understand their feelings. By doing this, we can give them the tools they need to navigate the world with grace and empathy. What's the thing that helped you learn about emotional intelligence?
