During early childhood education, adults have the responsibility to help children develop their intelligence. Intelligence includes academic intelligence as well as emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence is defined by a person’s ability to process and express their emotions while respecting the feelings of others. There are so many benefits to emotional intelligence, and kids can start developing these skills during early childhood education.
Children with high emotional intelligence often perform better on tests and tend to earn higher academic grades. Learning emotional intelligence skills also helps children form better relationships as they are better equipped to handle conflict. Luckily for parents, all children have the capacity to learn and develop emotional intelligence skills. They just need to be exposed to adults who can teach them these skills.
Tips For Teaching Emotional Intelligence in Early Childhood Education
At Providence Children’s Academy, our early childhood education is built on a curriculum that teaches young children emotional intelligence skills in a fun and unique way. Here are some of the ways we incorporate learning emotional intelligence skills into our daily activities.
Name and Validate Your Child’s Emotions
It’s important for children to recognize how they are feeling. One of the best ways to teach your children about different emotions is to name the emotion you think they might be feeling. Parents and teachers should never be dismissive of a child’s emotions and should rather listen and validate their feelings. This helps the child realize that their emotions are normal and accepted. But what’s important is how they respond after feeling a certain emotion.
Building up a vocabulary of emotions will help the child recognize and label that emotion the next time they feel it. This is helpful in them learning the appropriate way to respond each time they feel the same emotion.
Model Appropriate Emotional Response Behaviors
An important emotional intelligence skill for kids to learn is how to respond to emotions appropriately. Kids need to learn that it’s okay to feel angry but it’s not okay to express your anger by kicking and screaming. The best way for a child to learn how to express their feelings in an appropriate way is for adults to model this behavior themselves.
A great way for teachers and parents to do this is to talk through the emotions that you’re feeling and why. For example, if a child is upset because of something another child has said or done, the adult can express that they feel angry or sad about it. This teaches the child that they can express their emotions using their words instead of through bad behavior.
Incorporate Healthy Coping Mechanisms
Once a child is able to understand their emotions and how to respond appropriately, it’s important for them to develop their own coping mechanisms to deal with their emotions in a healthy way. It can be tricky for a child to know how to calm themselves down or cheer themselves up. So, it’s important for us to create an environment in which they can learn how to deal with these emotions.
At Providence Children’s Academy, we offer our children quiet spaces where they can refocus their attention on other things – like coloring books or building blocks. We also teach our children breathing techniques or blowing bubbles as a way to calm down. These kinds of exercises will help the child to build habits around emotional responses.
Teach Problem Solving Skills
Coach children by encouraging them to problem solve their way out of situations that cause them to feel negative emotions. For example, if a child feels irritated by another child’s behavior, encourage them to identify different ways they can solve this problem. Talk through their ideas with them and evaluate the pros and cons of each. Ultimately the child will learn how to go about problem solving tough situations on their own without getting upset or overwhelmed.
Early Childhood Education Programs in Coconut Creek
Providence Children’s Academy is committed to providing the best early childhood education for your kids. Our ethos is to ensure your children are learning to become the best versions of themselves in every aspect of life. Teaching emotional intelligence is such an important part of shaping children to become better adults in society. If you believe our school program is the right fit for you and your child, contact Providence Children’s Academy to find out more!