Scaffolding Emotional Intelligence

Happy, sad, angry and afraid.

Understanding the Four Primary Emotions: Happy, Sad, Angry, and Afraid

These four primary emotions are universal to all human beings, regardless of age. They are a shared, human, and real aspect of our existence. Furthermore, these emotions play a pivotal role in our lifelong learning, well-being, and success.

The Importance of Emotional Intelligence in Lifelong Success

Our capacity to recognize, understand, express, and regulate emotions is commonly known as emotional intelligence or emotional competence. Research has consistently shown that emotional intelligence often trumps both IQ and experience in determining success.

The Role of Caregivers and Educators in Emotional Development

As caregivers and educators, we sometimes mistakenly try to suppress or mislabel challenging emotions. We categorize some emotions as good and others as bad. For instance, a mother may disguise her anger as sadness, while a father might pretend to be happy to maintain a cheerful facade. This approach, however, can be misleading for children.

Teaching Children Emotional Authenticity and Regulation

Children learn from caregivers through direct instruction, modeling, and guidance. By developing our emotional competencies, we can teach children how to accurately identify, express, understand, and regulate their emotions. It’s crucial to communicate that all emotions, whether happy, sad, angry, or afraid, are natural and human. The key is in how we manage these emotions, and we can guide children in this process by welcoming, acknowledging, and validating all emotional experiences.

Housman Institute's Approach to Fostering Emotional Intelligence from Birth

At Housman Institute, our goal is to help caregivers and educators promote these emotional competencies in children right from birth. Our begin to ECSEL approach, implemented at our lab school, Beginnings School and Child Development Center, assures children as young as three months that all emotions, both positive and negative, are acceptable and can be appropriately expressed, understood, and managed.

Empirical Evidence: The Impact of Emotional Intelligence Training

Studies conducted on children who have undergone our begin to ECSEL approach show remarkable results. These children tend to become more empathetic, develop greater self-awareness, learn to regulate their emotions more effectively, and demonstrate enhanced pro-social skills. These abilities are key indicators of emotional intelligence.

These skills, experts say, are indications of emotional intelligence. What we find so exciting is that through our begin to ECSEL approach we can begin to foster the development of these critical skills from birth.