EQ Explore - Developing Children's Social and

What is Emotional Intelligence? It is the capability of individuals to recognise their own emotions and those of others, discern between different feelings and label them appropriately, use emotional information to guide thinking and behaviour, and manage and/or adjust emotions to adapt to environments or achieve one's goal(s). The EQ vs. IQ Debate: Psychologist Daniel Goleman estimates that, at best, IQ makes up only 20 percent of the factors that determine life success, while other forces, such as EQ, wealth, temperament, family education levels and pure luck make up the balance. That means cognitive skills—verbal comprehension, memory, reasoning and processing speed—will help academically, but they will only get a person so far in life. Study after study has proven EQ’s importance: that emotional intelligence predicts future success in relationships, health and quality of life. Importance of Developing Emotional Intelligence: Growing up is a time of discovery where difficult situations can help or hinder our travels to adulthood. EQ provides a compass that carefully directs kids as and when they stumble onto the slippery slopes of teasing, failing a test, dealing with strangers, jealousy, bullying, divorce, drugs, death and crime. Developing enthusiasm over depression and seeing opportunity over negativity is how an emotionally robust and intelligent generation tackles and manages the obstacles and emotions that naturally accompany the process of growing and developing. Benefits of High Emotional Intelligence: When you help a child understand and handle overwhelming feelings such as anger, frustration, or confusion, you develop his/her emotional intelligence quotient, or emotional IQ.