Tips for developing your child’s emotional intelligence (and developing these characteristics yourself);
☺ Raise your children understanding that while all emotions are acceptable, not all behaviours are.
☺ Help your children to find appropriate and healthy ways of dealing with all of their emotions, especially the negative ones (this does not allow for them to bottle up their feelings and hope they go away!)
☺ Be consistent with your child and do what you say you are going to do.
☺ Set boundaries for your children that are age appropriate and explain to them what the rules are and why those are the rules – as they get older they can help in the creation of some of the house rules.
☺ Have a routine in place for your children to grow up with. This is not one of those rigid plans that specifies exactly what time they will eat and on what day they will eat what food, but a rough outline of what order things are done in. This gives your children a sense of security, as they know certain things will be happening but it also ensures that there is balance in their day.
☺ Take time to listen to your child, as they need to learn that they are important too, as are their feelings.
☺ Help your child to develop problem solving strategies, rather than jumping in and solving their problems for them
☺ Please accept the wide range of emotions that your child will probably experience and never put down any of their emotions or judge them for feeling that way.
☺ Encourage your children to see things from other people’s point of view and in this way they will develop empathy which will strengthen any relationship.
☺ Teach your child how to identify and name their emotions; things are so much easier to deal with when we know what they are!
☺ Help your children to learn how to communicate openly and honestly – this is something best taught by example… Remember that children learn best by seeing what you do rather than by listening to what you say, so make sure you model the appropriate behaviour for them – you can’t expect them not to throw a temper tantrum if they see you lose your temper and become aggressive!
☺ Boost your child’s self esteem and spend time acknowledging the good things that they do. Let them know how important they are to you and be specific when praising them – rather than ‘you are a good girl,’ say ‘it was really nice of you to help me with dinner.’
☺ Finally, spend quality time with your child. It’s not about how much time you are with them, but rather what you do with the time you are with them.