The importance of Nurturance
Doctors Julie and John Gottman talked about emotional coaching and how it can help children starting at a young age develop their emotional intelligence. Emotion coaching is what parents can do to help the child verbalize what they are feeling. In order to effectively emotion coach, the parent should validate what the child is feeling, listen to what the child may be trying to communicate and help the child form those feelings into words.
A scenario that you could consider is when a child has lost their favorite toy and instead of using words to explain their frustrations they may begin to cry or throw a fit. A parent can recognize that they are upset and ask the child what is wrong. If the child does not directly answer, the parent can ask if they are sad, angry, tired, hungry, etc... By asking these questions the child can give easier answers that can help narrow down what the problem is. Once the parent finds out the child is angry or sad, the parent can ask what the child might be sad or angry about and then reemphasize what the child was trying to communicate. "Oh, so you are upset because you can't find your favorite toy? Okay, I would be upset too if I couldn't find something that I cared about. Do you want me to help you find it?". By doing this, the child is shown respect and affection using words. They also begin to learn how to communicate their emotions more effectively which can transfer over into their adolescent or adult stages.
If you are interested in watching more about what Dr. John Gottman and Dr. Julie Gottman have to say about nurturing children, the video is available down below:
Comments
Post a Comment