Children’s Emotional Learning
As parents, we must provide a positive emotional learning experience for our children that provides them with lifelong tools. Not only to improve the environment around us, but also to help our children develop as human beings.
It is certainly possible to teach how to properly manage emotional responses during the first few years of life.
Joy, sadness, surprise, disgust, fury and fear are some of our most intense emotions and they also influence our behavior, minute by minute.
It is very common that, during childhood, children experience these emotions in a much more explosive and somehow primitive way.
Therefore, it is necessary to teach them to channel their emotions and develop behavior that is socially acceptable. This means that your emotions must respect the implicit norms of coexistence, among other basic aspects.
When to start with emotional learning?
The sooner the better. However, we must take into account the child’s age and adapt our teachings to their abilities. For this, we have to be attentive, dedicated, patient and persevering.
In general, parents usually start their children’s emotional learning from the 1st or 2nd year of life. In this way, they ensure that they create the foundations for an education in values in sufficient time.
We must remember that children are like sponges and easily absorb everything around them: ideas, experiences, behaviors, etc. Their ability to assimilate information is enormous, so we should take advantage of this ability when teaching them how to behave.
Emotional learning, or any other kind, involves putting in place several strategies that are flexible enough to fit the circumstances so that we can reach our goal.
Types of Children’s Emotional Learning
As the child grows, he experiences new sensations and deepens his feelings. Therefore, in relation to emotional learning, two main types can be seen:
- Associative Learning. It consists of making associations that help to store specific details through memorization.
- Cognitive learning. In this type of learning, information enters the reasoning system, is processed and then manages to provoke certain reactions.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is understood to be the ability to recognize both one’s own feelings and emotions and those of other people. It is considered an essential tool in social performance and involves several skills :
- Identify emotions and feelings.
- Control the impulses that arise from emotional responses, depending on the norms of coexistence and collective well-being.
- Create or maintain interpersonal relationships.
Important Areas of Emotional Intelligence
- Interpersonal intelligence. It is the ability to understand other people well. For example, what motivates them to act in a certain way and how to relate to them in the right way. It is directly associated with empathy and understanding other people’s reactions and temperaments.
- Intrapersonal intelligence. It helps to form a realistic and concrete model of the human being, taking into account one’s feelings. Thus, they can be used as a guide in your conduct.
How to develop emotional intelligence?
- Establish values. It is important to establish fundamental values from an early age.
- Teach them to distinguish between good and evil, as well as between right and wrong, in a simple but effective way.
- Show affection. If parents show love to their children, they will learn to show it too, both to parents and to others.
- Set an example and maintain proper discipline.
- Show the errors. Allow children to make mistakes and to live their own experiences. It is also crucial to recognize your achievements.
- It is also necessary to teach not to be ashamed to express feelings.
- The manifestation of a single emotion should not be imposed as a norm under any circumstances; in other words, to ensure a good emotional learning for children, we should not demand that they are always happy or always neutral.
It is necessary to teach children that all emotions are natural and very necessary for human beings. All play a role in helping to cope with life’s situations.
Therefore, it is necessary to let them know that emotions should not be repressed or avoided, but rather known, accepted and that they should learn to manage them correctly. Thus, children will be able to relate well and have a good participation in society. This will bring them great personal satisfaction.
