Have you ever told your child to calm down and manage their emotions but instead seen how their anger escalated? This is a clear sign that they lack emotional intelligence and need to recognize and regulate their feelings. It may sound easy, but it’s a complex process and takes time. Learning to manage emotions requires time and consistency. Therefore, it is best advised to start young and equip them to track their growth.

While emotional intelligence is imperative for the child’s development, parents tend to be a little less concerned about them. Rather, they are more anxious about ABCs and 123s or celebrating all their child’s firsts. This includes capturing the first step, first word, first day at school and even rummaging through birthday party packages Dubai to throw the best first birthday party.

Nevertheless, making an equal or more effort towards a child’s emotional intelligence is also an important task of the parents. Studies consistently show that EQ is directly associated with happiness and success. After all, people with a high level of EQ tend to have more satisfying careers and fulfilling relationships.

Components of Emotional Intelligence

Emotional Intelligence has five steps and they are important in all aspects of life. Together they help the individual regulate the child’s emotions.

• Self-regulation of emotional states
• Ability to motivate yourself
• Empathy for others
• Navigating relationships
• Self-awareness

Becoming equipped with all these emotions will help you achieve a point where you are emotionally intelligent.

Strategies to Develop Emotional Intelligence

As parents, it can be an onerous task to develop Emotional Intelligence amongst their children. However, with the incorporation of these simple strategies, they can surely work to increase their child’s emotional intelligence.

1.  Recognize Emotions

The child should be able to recognize and label their emotions. It clarifies their perspective and helps them see things clearly. Parents can do so by telling them that ‘You are excited about your birthday party, ‘You are sad because it’s raining and you cannot go out and play’ etc.

2.  Respond to Stress

Stress management is an important step that helps their child to recognize and respond to stress. It is common to see many people who cry, or seek solitude when stressed. Others can get physical and hit someone else with a toy. These all show that every child has a different manner of dealing with stress and any uncomfortable emotion. Parents can help them, by teaching them to notice this change. For instance, ‘You want some time alone when you are angry’ or ‘You cry when you are tired or frustrated’.

3.  Share their Emotions

Parents should talk to their child; about what they are feeling. This helps them to understand the situation and the circumstances that they feel and the reason behind them. Helping them process these emotions allows them to develop a broader perspective and manage such problems in the future on their own.

4.  Encourage Problem-solving Behaviors

Parents need to teach their children some effective ways to address their emotions. Instead of looking at the problem and thinking about it, try to look for solutions. This not only makes you proactive but also quickly brings you out of the problem.

5.  Set an Example

Children are keen observers. They look at their parents and process it out. Therefore, the parents need to set a worthy example as their children will copy them. Children observe their parents’ behavior, attitude, ways of life, family experiences and copy them.

Games Help Develop Emotional Intelligence

Parents can develop a simple practice of improvising and adding a segment of some games to their child’s free time, or during any of their fun events. There are numerous event planners who include such games in birthday party packages in Dubai. This adds a little competition, fun, and excitement to the day while working on building and strengthening their emotional intelligence alongside physical games.

Let’s take a look at some of them in detail:

1.  Survival Card Game

This survival card game is focused on increasing practical knowledge amongst children. The challenge focuses on knowing how to survive in outrageous situations. In each case, the card is pulled out and has a question with three possible answers. On giving the correct answers, the team moves ahead. On an incorrect answer, the other team moves ahead. The first team to finish wins.

In order to make it interesting, one can include funny, and factual questions to keep the fun lit till the end.

2.  Big Words Trivia Quiz

This challenge focuses on learning long-ail words. The box has a set of 50 cards bearing unusual words. Each word has 4 possible definitions. In doing so, everyone takes a turn at reading the cards out loud and tries to guess the right meaning. Moreover, individuals with the most correct answers win.

3.  Table Topics

This is not some win-lose sort of a challenge. Rather it is meant to inspire interesting conversations amongst the individuals. It features a list of questions for everyone and gives room for fun and excitement. For instance, what is your most prized possession? If you could trade houses or outfits, who would you choose? Have you ever met someone who is very far away from home? Furthermore, such team building activities help develop a bond and trust factor with fellow members.

4.  Stop, Relax and Think

Children between the age of 6 and 12 years of age might enjoy learning to control their impulsive behaviors. Suited for two to twelve players, Stop, Relax & Think includes tokens, several different-sided dice, card decks, and little characters to represent each person.

Children between the age of 6 and 12 years of age might enjoy learning to control their impulsive behaviors. Suited for two to twelve players, Stop, Relax & Think includes tokens, several different-sided dice, card decks, and little characters to represent each person.

Kids divide into four sections of the board: Feelings, Stop, Relax, and Think, and collect tokens for completing different activities. For example, in the Feelings section, they pick, read, and answer a card from the Feelings deck. In the Stop section, they take a specific Stop card until another player says “Stop”. This helps kids learn to control their behaviors and check involuntary, emotional responses.

Is the Process Working?

Developing emotional intelligence amongst children doesn’t happen overnight. Instead, it’s slow and takes some time. But how will the parents really know that their children are developing signs of EQ? Here is how it works! Children will start to express themselves in ways that are noticeable. In doing so, they will also begin to listen to other people and self-regulate. It gives them a moment to process, take a deep breath and work accordingly.

The Takeaway

Emotional intelligence has so many benefits that help us to grow and nurture our relationships. With the right amount of empathy, social and self-regulation skills, they become better equipped for their life ahead. It is best advised to carry it out from a young age, so by the time they reach professional life, they have the best ways to cope with circumstances. Else, one can always look out for the corporate team building activities in Dubai. Just like you are never too young to start learning, you are never too old to stop developing Emotional Intelligence and begin today!