Emotional Intelligence
Why is emotional intelligence so important in raising a child? Managing
anxiety in order to tackle a big project, managing anger to
work through a marital conflict, managing fear to apply for a
job -- the ability of a human being 
to manage his or her
emotions in a healthy way will determine the quality of his life in a
much more fundamental way than his IQ. In fact, psychologists have come to call this ability EQ, or Emotional Intelligence Quotient.
What
are the core components of high EQ? Emotional self knowledge and self
acceptance, sensitivity to the cues of others, empathy (which can be
defined as the ability to see and feel something from the other’s point
of view), and the ability to regulate one’s own anxiety in order to
talk about emotionally charged issues in a constructive way.
Your child’s EQ begins with her relationship with you. How can you lay a solid foundation?
1. Hold your infant when she wants you and respond quickly to her cries.
High EQ starts in infancy with the baby's earliest interactions with
caregivers, from which she develops feelings of security and trust.
2. Calm your own anxiety.
Almost a hundred years ago, psychologist Harry Stack Sullivan
originated the idea that infants pick up anxiety from their parents. Recent research has confirmed that parents' touch, voices, and movements can
either soothe a child or stimulate anxiety.
3. Help him learn to self-soothe.
We now know that babies learn to sooth themselves by first having
someone else soothe them. From this they gain the experience of their
physical and emotional needs as something manageable that can be tolerated.
In fact, their nervous systems actually begin to lay the groundwork for
self-calming later in life, meaning that babies' brains and nerves don't develop adequately unless they are held and soothed when they're upset.
Infants
experience needs that aren't met as life threatening (as unsatiated
hunger, or an absent caretaker, actually could be). Emotions swamp
these babies. Without the soothing they need, their nervous systems
don't lay down the pathways that would later allow them to soothe
themselves. As toddlers they have a very hard time learning to self
soothe or self regulate, because every feeling makes them anxious -–
after all, it might lead to a catastrophe -– and escalates.
In later childhood their feelings of neediness, fear or anger can trigger sweeping anxiety or panic, leading these kids to act out because they can't tolerate their feelings or calm themselves down.
4. Accept and acknowledge your child's emotions. You can (and should) limit his actions as necessary. Teach kids that they can't choose their feelings any more then they can choose their arms and legs, but they can -- and must -- choose what to do with those feelings.
5. When in doubt, empathize.
Your empathy and acceptance helps your child accept her emotions, which
is what allows her to resolve her feelings and move on. Your empathy
teaches her that her emotional life is not dangerous, is not shameful,
and in fact is universal and manageable. She learns that she is not
alone. She learns that even the less pleasant parts of herself are
acceptable, which means that she is wholly acceptable. And she learns
to understand and accept herself.
6. Don't try to distract him from his feelings. And don't shame him when he gets hurt ("A little scratch like that doesn't hurt," "Big boys don't cry."). Acknowledge, empathize, let him show you what happened, give him a little time to process. Then he'll be ready to move on.
7. Repression doesn’t work. Disapproving of her fear or anger won't stop her from having those feelings, but it may well force her to repress them.
Repressed
feelings don't fade away, as feelings do that have been freely
expressed. Repressed feelings are trapped and looking for a way out.
Because they are not under conscious control, they pop out unmodulated,
when a preschooler socks her sister or a seven year old has nightmares
or an eleven year develops a nervous tic.
8. Active Listening virtually always helps diffuse intense feelings.
Accepting his feelings and reflecting them does not mean you agree with
them or endorse them. You're showing him you understand. How?
Listen. Reflect. ("You sure are angry at your brother” “You seem worried about the field trip today.")
9. Help your child learn to problem solve.
Most of the time, when kids (and adults) feel their emotions are
understood and accepted, the feelings lose their charge and begin to
dissipate. This leaves an opening for problem solving. Sometimes, kids
can do this themselves. Sometimes, they need your help to brainstorm. But resist the urge to handle the problem for them unless they ask you to; that gives kids the message that you don't have confidence in his ability to handle it himself.
10. Handling anger constructively is one of the most important skills you can give your child.
When he’s angry, look under the anger for the hurt or fear that his
anger is defending against. Remember that he will learn what you
model. Use words, not force. Don’t let anger escalate. Breathe so
you can keep listening.
11. Model emotional intelligence.
What they see you do is what they will do. Do you start snapping at people when you're under stress? Have minor tantrums
when things go wrong? Can you stay calm during
emotionally charged discussions? Do you empathize when feelings are
expressed? So will they.
12. Intervene before your own feelings get out of hand.
Every time I find myself yelling at one of my children, I realize that
the fault is mine. Not only that I am yelling, but that I didn't
intervene in an effective way before yelling was necessary.
My
five year old didn't turn off the computer when I asked, and now will
be late to bed? Obviously, she needed me to help her do what was too
hard for her to do alone -- exit the fun program and go brush her
teeth. Then I find myself yelling at her, because it's the fourth time
I've asked and it's twenty minutes later. Anytime you've asked that
many times, you aren't being effective, and a different, more involved
approach is necessary.
Whether it's picking up a tired toddler who's dawdling or insisting that your fourteen year old help carry in the groceries, you make it clear you won’t reconsider, but you do it while you're still calm. You maintain the peaceful tone in your house, and you teach them something useful about how to manage themselves.
If you end up screaming, they just feel picked on. They learn nothing useful and much that is harmful about how to handle their own feelings when they watch you indulge yours at their expense.
13. Don't undermine your child's emotional self-knowledge.
Respect her feelings about others. If she feels uncomfortable letting
Uncle Herman hug her, teach her to shake hands. When a preschooler
refuses a repeat playdate with a playground acquaintance, listen to
why, try to assist her in problem solving, but by all means let her
make the decisions about who she plays with. Affirm her ability to
trust her own feelings, including discomfort she can't really
identify. Children need to make their own decisions about
relationships from an early age.
14. Model talking about the hard things.
Your child may be challenged by a physical difference, an absent
father, a learning disability, being adopted, your impending divorce,
or his grandfather's alcoholism. Or he may simply find it difficult to
tell you he is terrified of taking tests at school, or feels like his
baseball coach screams all the time or the kids on the school bus tease
him.
Every child has issues that he or she is afraid to
discuss. And those are the issues where she most needs your support
and guidance. Of course, you first need to overcome your own
discomfort with the issue. Start by not feeling guilty, and see “Talking with your kids: How to Have the Tough Conversations”.
You
also need regular times when your child can bring up what’s bothering
him. One great way is to have a few quiet minutes at bedtime in the
dark, when you ask kids about their day. What was great? What was
hard? It's amazing how the combination of dark and impending bedtime
often stimulates reserved children to open up.
Want More?
5 Steps To Nurture Emotional Intelligence in Your Child
Teaching Emotional Intelligence When Emotions Run High
Helping Your Child with Anger
Recommended Resources:
For Babies: Margot Sunderland's book gives you the science behind your baby's developing brain, including how calming your baby helps his nervous system develop optimally.
For Toddlers and Up: Dr. John Gottman (with Joan DeClaire) wrote the definitive book on raising Emotionally Intelligent kids. An immensely readable book with all the science behind good parenting. Gottman is the brilliant researcher who found that he can predict divorces based on the 5 to 1 ratio of positive to negative interactions. Now he's observing parents and kids, and telling us what works and what doesn't.
