We’ve all been told about the intelligence quotient or the IQ for a lot of years. Listening to Orchestra no. 9 or playing chess in pregnancy will give you intelligent kids. However, the world is changing faster than ever, and we have come to realize there is a lot more to explore. Our emotions and our social interactions with other people are becoming more and more relevant. Without much attention, we are unable to extract the best out of our intelligence. That’s why it's becoming important to pay attention to two things: Emotional intelligence and social intelligence.
What’s Emotional Intelligence?
Emotional intelligence literally means having the intellect to manage one's emotions and also understand others’ emotions. People having a high EQ or emotional quotient can better communicate using their emotions. They channel their difficult emotions such as anger and stress in a healthy manner. When children learn about emotional intelligence, they are better able to have a better empathy towards others. Not only this, but their self-esteem, self-awareness, and confidence also improve. What’s more, their thinking patterns become more positive, which helps them in developing a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset.
What’s Social Intelligence?
Social intelligence is a step ahead of emotional intelligence. When you are able to practice and learn emotional intelligence to a significant level, you become able to step up your social life as well. A person who is socially intelligent will be able to connect with others on a deeper level. They can sense what their peers feel and mold the interaction in a way that is healthier for both themselves and the person they are interacting with.
A child being taught social intelligence would learn about how to do active listening, how to improve their communication skills, and more. All of these interactive modalities will help the child to interact positively with their peers and elders.
Why is Social-Emotional Learning So Important?
Social-emotional learning is characterized as the overall process of the development of self-control, self-awareness, and interpersonal skills, which are termed to be essential for life, academic, and work success.
It is considered an important part of the development of your kid, equipping them with the necessary abilities, skills, knowledge, and tools to create positive relationships with other people, do critical thinking with good problem solving, and get the needed level of self-awareness in them. What's more, social-emotional learning helps your child to solidify the overall foundation for their success on an academic level.
What's more, social-emotional learning comes with a responsibility to act in the context of available education and inclusive learning. When schools embrace a diverse pool of children coming from different backgrounds, who have different challenges to cope with, it brings in them a heightened sense of empathy and compassion.
An Urgent Need
Our children have seen ever-changing and demanding scenarios in the COVID-19 pandemic these few years. Distance learning, minimized interaction with peers, stress for balancing study-home life in the same environment, and stressful academic circumstances are all some factors that call for social-emotional learning.
As children go back to school, social-emotional learning programs will be especially necessary as of now. It will give the children the power to think thoroughly and act rationally while also channeling their emotions in a positive manner. What's more, they will be given the power to form meaningful, productive, and positive relationships with people around them.
In the future, as they grow into professionals, it will help them to move forward and bring fruitful changes to the work environment. When intelligence alone cannot bring a viable change in the organization itself, it will be soft skills in the form of good emotional management, teamwork, and other social skills that help them in moving forward.
Final Word
In essence, we can say that the seed we bow to them through SEL programs will help them grow into healthy, mindful, and productive adults in the future. As of now, when there's a huge focus on improving work-family balance, building better rapport among people, and improving resilience towards the stress of today's world, including productive programs such as social-emotional learning can produce a lot of positive results – an investment that gives multi-dimensional benefits.
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