7 Successful Habits of the Emotionally Intelligent Parent

Children are highly emotional beings and we parents have the
responsibility to guide them especially when it comes to managing
their emotions.

Emotional intelligence has to do with not only recognising and
managing our own emotions but the emotions of others.

Did I just see you throw out the towel? Did I hear you just say

"Kids are a bundle of emotions so I'll just leave them to outgrow
that phase, I have issues of mine"?

"After a long hard day at work the last thing I want to hear is about
Junior whining about something unimportant."?

There's no need to feel overwhelmed, simply take the lessons for
yourself and as you learn, share with your children.

So let's go:

1) Recognise your child's negative emotions as an opportunity for a
heart to heart talk rather than just dismissing or accepting all
emotional expressions of your child.

2) Be patient with your child's expression of sadness, anger or
frustration. Spend time with your child to educate him/her;
troubleshoot and solve the problem. Don't just think that he/she would
change with time.

3) Focus more on the meaning of the emotion rather than how the child
should "get over" the emotion. It's important to know why, and help
the child understand why because many times kids are not even able to
articulate their frustrations.

4) Be empathetic. Don't throw the issue out of the window, sweep it
under the carpet or trivialise it just because it doesn't mean
anything to you. Put yourself in their shoes...then you'll understand
what they feel.

5) Don't be judgmental. You shouldn't make your child feel he/she has
committed a crime for expressing displeasure. It's not a sign of
weakness. Rather, teach him/her to find the right words for
expression.

6) Give room for behaviour relapses; it will take time for your child
to learn better ways of expression.

7) Acknowledge attempts by your child to improve his/her communication
skills and give continuous encouragement. Everyone loves that.

Remember that our children copy what we do and most importantly who we
are, unconsciously. If you don't like your children behaving
impatiently to each other, check yourself, that may just be how you
behave towards them.

When we have something important to achieve the tendency is for us to
"push the children aside" instead of just saying "Daddy wants to do
something very important and would be right back. Can you give me an
hour?"

And please make sure you keep your words. Let our children know us as
people of integrity so they too will become people of integrity.

Happy Parenting!