Emotional intelligence is one of the important factors that support children's achievements, both in school and in their future careers. Therefore, parents need to understand and train their children's emotional intelligence from an early age.
Not only intellectual intelligence (IQ), emotional intelligence (EQ) also needs to be owned and formed from an early age. Children with a good EQ, will be easier to socialize, solve problems, and grow into a better person.
Meanwhile, low EQ tends to make children difficult to control their emotions, unable to make friends, and lack sympathy and empathy for others.
What is Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence is a person's ability to understand, use, and manage emotions. Emotional intelligence can also help anyone, including children, to build strong relationships, make decisions, and deal with difficult situations.
Several studies suggest that emotional intelligence can be learned and strengthened. To be emotionally intelligent, there are at least five components that a child must have, namely:
- Self-awareness, namely the ability to recognize, understand, and manage the emotions you feel
- Control over the emotions experienced, so as to relieve negative emotions, such as anger or disappointment
- Motivate yourself to achieve a goal
- Empathy or the ability to understand the feelings of others
- Strong social skills to build meaningful relationships with others
What is the Effect of Emotional Intelligence on Children's Achievement?
Children are generally faster to absorb whatever is taught to them. Therefore, it is important for every parent to start growing children's emotional intelligence from an early age.
Cultivating emotional intelligence as early as possible can help children be better prepared to face challenges in life. As they get older, children will be able to manage complex situations with a rational and calm mind, even when things don't go their way.
Even when they get a difficult challenge, they will not easily give up or leave it.
For example, when having trouble doing homework, an emotionally intelligent child will not give up, try to find answers, and continue to complete the task so as to get good results.
Emotionally intelligent children can also be identified by the following traits:
- Build friendships easily
- Understand or understand the meaning of a conversation quickly
- Easy to adapt to new environment and people
- Have high self-confidence
- Understand how to ask for help well from others
There are several ways that parents can apply to improve children's emotional intelligence. For example, inviting children to learn to identify the emotions they feel, teaching children to empathize with the emotions of their peers, and helping children express emotions in a good way.
Is Emotional Intelligence More Important Than Intellectual Intelligence?
Having a high intellectual intelligence (IQ) score is often associated with good academic grades, earning a higher salary at work, and better productivity. However, several studies have begun to link EQ as a factor in achieving success.
This statement arises because the IQ score is too narrow and does not cover a person's overall intelligence. In addition, intelligence is not a common ability.
A person may have more than one ability, so he is skilled in two or more fields, such as music and mathematics.
In addition to IQ, several studies have linked EQ with good performance at work, being able to build good relationships, and dealing with stress.
Therefore, your role as a parent is very important in guiding and helping children to recognize and improve their emotional intelligence.
If your child, or even you, is having trouble identifying and controlling emotions, or is failing academically or at work, it's never too late to start developing emotional intelligence.
You can also consult a psychiatrist or psychologist to find out more about how to develop the right emotional intelligence.
