Ask any parent and they’ll tell you they want the best for their child. It’s a natural instinct to want to protect children and give them the best possible start in life
It’s important to note that children soak up the world round them. They can learn a great deal from the right child care in Liverpool, or wherever you live. But they will also learn from you, the way you behave and the actions of others round them.
The things that they learn early in life will shape their personalities, prospects and their outlook on life; that’s why it’s so important to get it right!
Emotional intelligence means being capable of recognizing and controlling your own emotions as well as being able to build interpersonal relationships. But how do you teach that to a child?
In fact it’s fairly easy to do!
Acknowledgement
The most important first step is to acknowledge that your child has emotions. This can be as simple as getting them to explain why they are frustrated or even happy. Encourage your child to share their feelings with you; even if you can’t do anything about them.
What you can do is show your child that you understand and allow them to feel normal while releasing their emotions.
Being understood helps your child to feel appreciated and value these emotions.
Encourage Emotion
When children are small it may be difficult for them to distinguish between emotion and their own personality. All you can do is show acceptance of all emotions; this will discourage the feeling that some emotions are bad and should be repressed. That’s one way to store problems for the future.
Accepting their behavior allows them to move past it and learn from it.
Listen
You should never underestimate the power of listening. A child should be allowed to express their emotions and feel that you have listened to their issues.
This will relieve the pressure inside them and actually deepen your bond. You don’t usually need to do anything other than listen!
Problem Solving
Emotions are an essential part of being human. The sooner your child realizes this the healthier their emotional intelligence will be.
When they have a problem and adopt an emotional response you need to give them the space to work through their emotions and find a solution. IF necessary you can help them with guidance but let your child try to work it out for themselves first.
Role Playing
By allowing your child to express their emotions and talk to you you’ll quickly notice if there is a pattern occurring.
If this is the case then it’s time to do some roe play. This can be used to help your child deal with specific issues.
However, you don’t want to be too obvious with this role play. You need to create a game that allows your child to vent their emotional frustration without talking directly about the issue.
For example, if your child really wants mummy all the time then you can introduce a game that allows daddy to pretend to stop the child from getting to mummy. Keep it light and the child will quickly realize its fun to have daddy as well as mummy.
