Emotional Intelligence. The Best gift you can give your child – Part 1

Excerpts from an article by Kate Gallanti, M.S.

Emotional Intelligence is the new buzz word in education and parenting right now.I remember hearing about Emotional Intelligence ( Or EI as many are calling it now ) from the title of a best seller book released in the 1990′s by Howard psychology PhD.Daniel Goleman.

Apparently , gone are the days of IQ tests! The most important measurement of ability would now seem to be a person’s EQ, a measurement of a person’s capability of navigating the sometimes treacherous territory of human emotion.

Psychological research shows that emotional intelligence may be a much greater predictor of a happy and successful adult life than one’s traditional left brained Intelligence scores. Which is just as well since, while one’s IQ is mostly an inherited genetic factor that can only be modified by five or ten points during an average life span emotional intelligence is a skill, based on experiential social learning which can be improved upon significantly with appropriate guidance and teachings.

For as with many other constructs in psychological developments, emotional intelligence can be nurtured and enhanced with particular effectiveness during early childhood, as this is when the emotional pathways within the brain are still not fully set giving great opportunity to set the stage right for increased social and emotional well-being in childhood.