Last update: 12 March, 2017
One of the great Enlightenment thinkers of our history, Jean Jacques Rousseau, once said these wise words: “Childhood has its own way of seeing, thinking and feeling; there is nothing more foolish than trying to replace it with ours ”. With this phrase, Rousseau already underlined the importance of childhood emotional education, which is different from that of adults.
In fact, a right childhood emotional education must adapt to the needs of the child, its development and its way of feeling and thinking. If we really want to raise independent and happy young people, then we must respect this reality.
"The best way to make children good is to make them happy"
-Oscar Wilde-
The importance of childhood emotional education
There are many parents who know how important it is for a child to be able to express his emotions in the right way. Despite this, they must also learn to understand them, to interpret them and to accept them as an integral part of their life and their world.
It is obvious that every child needs emotional intelligence to help them feel the bonds that bind them to the people they love. This is for him a source of greater well-being, more happiness and better autonomy and responsibility.
However, how can we make our child develop from an emotional intelligence point of view? To find out, today we will analyze some key points exposed by professionals in emotional intelligence.
Childhood emotional education and its key points
Land interpersonal relationships are critical to the emotional well-being of human beings. The happiness of an adult or a child depends on their ability to develop skills that make them emotionally intelligent in their relationships.
Identify emotions
Professionals in the sector suggest being aware as the first key point for raising an emotionally intelligent child. This means that, both as educators and as wards, it is important to know your emotions, the consequences they have and how to work on them.
To do this, it is important to ask yourself questions about your feelings: why they happen, what causes us to feel that way, and what we can do to correct or empower them. Only in this way will we be able to express them verbally and define them, to help the children to lead this process on their own.
Managing emotions
The second important point has to do with managing emotions. Once identified and understood, you need to know how to manage them. Whether they are positive or negative feelings, they must be labeled and given a name to always be able to identify them and express them in words.
At this point, it's time to accept your emotions, as they are legitimate and personal. This is the time to work on the behavior that comes from these feelings. In this way, you will help your children not to act impulsively, but not compulsively or lightly.
Using empathy
To teach children to recognize their emotions, manage them and improve their emotional intelligence, it is important to always use their empathy. We need to understand how the child feels and what are the mechanisms that he uses, depending on his age, to channel that enormous torrent of emotions and feelings that, usually, is very fickle and uncontrolled.
It is necessary to establish a bond with the child, know how to behave, try to put yourself in his shoes and always use empathy, patience and understanding. Remember that what may be insignificant to you can be a major problem for them. Always respect your child and create the right environment to establish good communication.
How to practice childhood emotional education
Among the activities recommended to teach a correct childhood emotional intelligence, we can highlight the following:
- Making drawings that are expressive on an emotional level.
- Keep emotional journals.
- Imitate emotions.
- Identify emotions and locate their cause jointly.
- Read texts and stories that allow you to identify emotions.
- Listen or play musical instruments or sing.
- Play games together that help improve communication and manage frustration.
- Encourage physical contact between children and adults present in their life.
"All children come into the world with a certain sense of love, but it depends on their parents, on their friends, if this love ends up being saved or condemned"
-Graham Greene-
The happiness and well-being of your children largely depend on a correct childhood emotional education. If they learn to live with their emotions and feelings, more than with their properties, you will be able to grow more satisfied, autonomous, responsible and happy people, which improves their well-being and, therefore, also that of everyone else.
