Part 1- Emotional Intelligence – WHY Parents Should Boost Their Understanding of This Important Tool

Posted on January 23, 2014

As parents, we go through our day-to-day lives working toward a solid future for our children. We want them to be good students with good character, morals and values. We want them to be loving, caring, compassionate and empathetic. For their own good, we want them to do good. And for the most part, they keep up with the direction in which we lead them. We are spending all our time today for a better tomorrow. Without this guidance, our children would not be able to develop the skills that are necessary to cope with the world around them.

However, life is going to happen. They are going to faced with challenges and they will stumble and fall before they learn how to stand tall. And when they do, the only skill that will carry them through is understanding their inner selves.

We have all kinds of toys and technology that focus on the alphabet, phonics, reading, comprehension, math, science, geography. These products and services are available to facilitate the understanding of our children’s outside world. However, that is surely not the case when it comes to supplementing the navigation of their inner world: their thoughts, their feelings. That education of self-understanding comes primarily from parents.

Yes, there are therapists and experts that can guide us through the tough challenges, but surely they are not in our home. And yes, through the great work of the CASEL forum, social and emotional intelligence (SEL) programs and trainings are slowly making their way into the school systems. But the progress of this program and its implementation will take time. If you are a parent of 0-3 year-old, you could get lucky enough to see SEL education implemented in your child’s school, maybe by the time they get to middle school. For the rest of you, unless your children are already in the few schools nationwide that are implementing this program, chances are they will not know anything about SEL or its heart, Emotional Intelligence (EI) probably until middle school! And even though it’s never too late, it would be much more immediately beneficial to your children if parents took on that task from the beginning.

I’m sure you’re thinking, “No way! Another parental task?” But I’m going to help you make it unbelievably easy! I’m not going to give you a complicated SEL training. All I will hand over to you is a simple tool to get the Emotional Intelligence (EI) wheels spinning in your home. If you’re up for this ONE easy tool which has scientifically proven academic and life benefits for your child, as indicated by this study at NYU’s child study center, be sure to tune in next week!

This simple, yet breakthrough tool is also advocated in my upcoming book, The “Perfect” Parent, 5 Tools for Using Your Inner Perfection to Connect with Your Kids. You’ll also see a really cute testimonial from my current editor (also a parent) of her experience when she decided to test out the tools that she was editing, with her three-year-old!

Be sure to check in next week for Part 2 on Emotional Intelligence: HOW Can Parents Take the Lead with ONE Simple Tool?