The first few years of life are so important. Not only do children learn about the world around them but they also develop different skills. These skills include everything from motor skills and language skills to emotional and social skills. Many parents think that cognitive skills are the most important because they give your child the ability to think, learn, read, remember, and pay attention.
However, there is one thing that may be more important than cognitive skills. Social and emotional skills are extremely important for your child to learn and develop. There is something called emotional intelligence, emotional quotient (EQ), which may be more important than a person’s IQ.
According to Huffington Post, an EQ is a person’s ability to control, express, evaluate, and identify their own emotions, as well as others’. This article also mentions that Daniel Goleman, a psychologist, believes that EQ is more important in determining a person’s success than their IQ. Someone may be the smartest person in the room, but if they may have poor social and emotional skills, making it hard for them to thrive in a work environment and communicate with others. Being a social person allows you to connect with others, whether it is in work or through friendships.
At Montessori School of Chantilly, your child will be encouraged to develop their social skills and learn about their emotions. Our students are given time to learn and discover at their own pace and in their own way, but they will also be given time to work with other in groups. This encourages them to work on their social skills and helps them learn how to work better with other and communicate in different ways.
In this blog, we are going to give you some tips you can use to help your child develop their social skills and learn more about emotions.
Teach Self-Awareness
Start by teaching your child self-awareness. To do this, you will want to teach them about their own emotions, help them understand the way they feel, and why they feel this way. When you notice your child is upset, ask them to describe or draw how they are feeling. You will then be able to tell them what this emotion is called and help them figure out what made them feel this way. Teaching your child self-awareness will give your child the ability to recognize emotions and understand the link between them and their behaviors.
Managing Emotions
Once you help your child understand their emotions and how they affect behavior, you can teach them how to better manage their emotions. Being able to identify their emotions and actions allows them to think about how they are acting and control it better. If they are angry at their sibling, teach them how to handle that anger properly and not take it out on their friends or other people. Teach them how to talk it out or take a moment to cool down before reacting to their emotions.
Emotions and Others
Once your child understands emotions, you can teach them about empathy. Empathy is important in both emotional and social development. Teach your child to think about how others feel and how that is making them act in certain ways. Being able to understand their own emotions means that they can understand how others are feeling. This is also a good time to teach your children the golden rule of “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” which basically means treat others how you would like to be treated. If they take a child’s toy on the playground, ask them how they would feel if someone took their toy and tell them how they probably just made that child feel. This will help them understand that other people have emotions too.
Encourage Play
Playing is one of the best ways your child can develop their social skills. They will be able to figure out how to share, how to take turns, and how to act in order to keep their friends playing with them. They will learn a lot and develop better social skills simply by playing with their friend or siblings. Set up playdates and allow your children to play with other children, not just the ones they are comfortable with. At Montessori School of Chantilly, your children will have time to interact, play, and learn with others, allowing them to develop their social skills.
Teaching your child emotional and social skills is important and can help them in the future. At Montessori School of Chantilly, your child will be given opportunities and encouraged to work with others and develop these set of skills. Learn more about our school and schedule a visit today! Feel free to contact us with any questions!
