How To Explain Emotional Intelligence To A Child

Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (“EI”) has become one of the most popular skills people have mentioned teaching children. Many educators consider it an important skill for students to develop as they enter adulthood. Some studies even suggest that having high levels of EI can help you succeed in your career. Since success […]

Share:

Over the past few years, emotional intelligence (“EI”) has become one of the most popular skills people have mentioned teaching children. Many educators consider it an important skill for students to develop as they enter adulthood.

Some studies even suggest that having high levels of EI can help you succeed in your career. Since success in society equals happiness for individuals, experts believe that developing this quality is a worthy investment.

However, not everyone agrees that investing in young people’s EI will always be effective. Some argue that some teens and adults who seem emotionally intelligent are just self-aware and aware of how others perceive them.

This seems similar to someone who is socially conscious but doesn’t use non-discounted products or who only eats vegan food. Both things are great, but some people don’t feel like they need either to survive.

So while there is some evidence that early intervention can boost kids’ EIs, no one knows if this benefits all kids The same thing happens with other types of training — some people get more out of it than others.

In this article, we’ll talk about what parents and teachers can do to help students learn about emotion regulation. We’ll also look at some strategies that may be particularly helpful for different student groups.

Factors that affect your emotional intelligence

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

There are several factors that can influence your EQ or EI. These include genetics, early experiences, life events, socialization, religion, culture, and more.

Some of these things come more heavily into play in childhood than adulthood, like when you’re eight years old!

Genetics are our biological make up- some people are just born with higher empathy than others.

For example, there is a gene called OXTR which helps regulate emotions. People who have this gene tend to relate better with other people and show more care for others.

This could be because they understand how feelings work and know what buttons need to be pressed for different individuals at different times.

Early experiences shape how we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us.

If someone close to you was never allowed to do something as a kid, it may limit their understanding of why they should allow themselves to do such things now.

Life events occur when significant changes happen, usually due to circumstances outside of yourself. A death in the family, a promotion at work, or a serious health issue all can shift priorities and responsibilities, requiring you to reevaluate your life.

Socialization means learning appropriate behavior from those around you, so if no one ever taught you how to manage your own emotions, you will probably struggle with that later in life.

Religion, culture, and gender also play a part in shaping your EQ.

Ways to improve your emotional intelligence

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

One of the most important things you can do as an adult is learn how to manage your own emotions.

This is particularly true in regards to relationships. If you cannot control your anger, it will hurt someone close to you or keep you from having a good relationship with someone.

You need to be able to recognize your feelings and then stop and think before acting. Take some time to calm down and consider whether this was really the best course of action.

Keeping yourself controlled during times of stress can help you succeed at work and in life. You would probably agree that staying cool under pressure makes for good competition.

Another way to improve your emotional intelligence is by practicing acceptance and forgiveness. This is especially helpful when there has been a disagreement or argument. You should try to put what happened behind you and move forward.

Teach them to be assertive

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

While emotional intelligence is described as “self-awareness,” there are some differences between the two. Self-awareness means knowing yourself well, but it also implies understanding what makes you feel different emotions and being able to identify those emotions.

However, having high levels of emotional intelligence doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re always in control of your feelings. This could potentially put your child at risk for mental health issues like depression or anxiety.

It’s important for kids to learn how to be aware of their own feelings and why they have certain ones, but also how to manage their emotions. Kids who learn this can experience less stress from life and may even recognize when someone else is stressed out.

Teach them to be compassionate

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

Many people have emotional intelligence (EI) in varying degrees, but most of us don’t use it consistently. When we are in an argument with someone, for example, we often get angry or upset. We may even say hurtful things to make our opponent feel bad.

But when we walk away, we sometimes think “well I should have said that much earlier!” or “That was so stupid of me,” instead of being more motivated by how what they said made us feel.

We also forget about negative feelings later, which means we aren’t as invested in relationships. This can easily put stress on relationships because we don’t look after ourselves properly and therefore aren’t looking after others.

So if you want to help your child develop their emotional literacy, start teaching them about compassion.

What is compassion?

Compassion is feeling sorry for someone who has done something wrong. It makes you willing to work hard to fix the problem and help them learn from it.

For instance, if someone broke into your house, you would probably be very angry. But once you got over the initial shock, you might try talking to them to find out why they did it.

You could even call the police, but only if you believe they will do everything possible to bring them back under control.

Teach them to be creative

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

It is very important that as you try to teach your kids emotional intelligence, you also work to strengthen their creativity. Since most of us use emotions in various ways throughout our lives, understanding how to control them takes learning more than just doing it once.

Research shows that people who are able to manage their feelings and stressors more effectively tend to show higher levels of creativity. Having these skills can help you in every area of life, including at school where students with high EQs often do better academically.

You may be surprised by what types of things they find inspiring. Perhaps someone else’s success gave them an idea or inspired them to create something new.

By teaching your child about emotion regulation, you will also be helping them learn how to develop their self-esteem and confidence.

Teach them to be realistic

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

As we discussed, emotional intelligence is more than just knowing how to control your emotions — it’s also about understanding what makes you feel different emotions.

This can be tricky for kids because they don’t always understand why things make them feel certain ways.

They may not know what made their parents cry or what hurt their sister so much that she refused to eat her lunch. Kids who are very young probably won’t fully comprehend the concept of loss, either.

As they get older, though, they will. And when they do, it can help them deal with life much better.

So, next time someone says something that makes you angry, try to take a moment to think about how important it was for them to say that.

It might mean nothing to you now, but someday you’ll realize how significant those words were to their lives.

Teach them to be self-aware

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

A large part of emotional intelligence is being aware of your own emotions. This is called self-awareness.

This is very important because we are our own biggest critics. If we feel bad about ourselves, then it can influence how we treat others around us.

If we are always happy with ourselves, then we will likely make friends that share this same inner happiness. On the other hand, if we don’t like what we see in the mirror, we may try harder to look better!

Self-awareness helps you understand your strengths and weaknesses, which only makes you more confident in yourself. It also helps you recognize when someone else is trying to win you over by putting up false pretenses or flattery.

There are many ways to teach young children about emotion self-awareness. They can learn by observing their parents’ behaviors, talking about their feelings, doing exercises, looking at pictures and stories about people who were strong in relationships, etc.

Challenge them

how to explain emotional intelligence to a child

As mentioned before, emotional intelligence is not about having lots of emotions or being able to show feelings, but rather understanding why you feel a certain way and how to use that knowledge to manage your own moods and those around you.

This may sound simple enough, but it can be difficult when trying to teach this to kids. Kids are very instinctual and do not like things they have never experienced before so they tend to ignore anything new unless something dramatic happens.

They also grow up in a society where everything seems to have an emphasis on using violence as a solution to problems. This creates a culture where anger is rewarded and suppressed emotions are seen as weaknesses.

So if you try to talk to her about it she will probably just call you a “crybaby” and run away. It becomes even more challenging because children at this stage learn from what they see and hear around them, so she might pick up some bad habits.

Tags:
Join Our Newsletter
Stay up to date on latest stories
Join Our Newsletter
Stay up to date on latest stories
Copyright © 2026 Success Quarterly. All Rights Reserved.
Copyright © 2024 Success Quarterly. All Rights Reserved.
Join our newsletter
Stay up to date on latest stories
Close