Emotions are the key that helps us understand the meaning of the world around us. Without emotions, our life would be nothing less than a mechanical transcript. Whether good or bad, emotions are an important part of life, yet, there’s a lot that is still untapped about them.
Social and emotional development in a human being is vital for a healthy life. Research has shown that the seeds for emotional development sown in the initial years of life provide the foundation for social functioning.
The pandemic has caused trauma for people of all ages, including – and especially – our children.
No two children are the same and come with a unique set of characteristics and the way they display their emotions. While we always prepare them for academic education, it is equally important to create a higher awareness related to the social and emotional environment.
Social-emotional learning (SEL) skills involve developing the ability to understand and manage our emotions, establish positive relationships, develop empathy for others, set and achieve goals, and feel good about ourselves.
While SEL isn’t a new concept, however, there are plenty of questions that are still left unanswered.
Head of Education at BOOKR Kids and specialized psychologist for social and emotional learning, Dominika Gyanyi, shedding light on how crucial it is for us to help our kids understand and manage their emotions. It really has the potential to change our children’s lives and also, impact and change the world.
Dominika Gyanyi explains, “While you think that social-emotional learning is related to how we connect in our social sphere and manage and understand our emotions, it’s much more. Five components form the core of SEL, and they are Self-awareness, Self-regulation, Decision making, Relationship Skills, and Social Awareness. Self-awareness is the core. It is the ability to recognize and understand our emotions, thoughts, and values and how they affect our behavior. Our behavior and decisions make up all aspects of our lives. As such, social-emotional learning can really change the world.”
Some families find it hard to figure out how they can support their children.
Dominika Gyanyi explains, “First and Foremost -Being a Role Model for their children- showing a great example and building their own social and emotional awareness is essential for parents. Sharing memories with their whole families and using other resources like reading books or doing activities involving their kid’s active participation can help them.
Apart from these, parents or grandparents can be more observant of their child’s emotions as they are also part of the learning process.
Usually when kids are sad, we often say that ‘don’t be sad,’ ‘forget about them’ and use several such phrases but actually it teaches them to neglect and avoid their feelings. These feelings will come out sooner or later. What we should do is address how it makes them feel. By asking explicit questions like how can I help you? Saying, ‘please, talk about your feelings’ or share your own personal experience to make them understand that it can happen to anyone. This offers more profound help to them.”
Dominika Gyanyi: The biggest problem might be to express their vulnerabilities. As a parent, we want to be role models for our kids, and with that by showing, dealing or talking about problems, most parents face problems in admitting their vulnerabilities. Besides that, parents are raised in an environment devoid of social-emotional learning. Teaching something, they haven’t been raised with is a very difficult thing. Also, there are times when families do not have the right material to support their learning.
BOOKR Kids has been working effectively to build a safer space; thus, with COPUBLICA, Learning Planet Institute, and HarperCollins, it has come forward to make social-emotional learning accessible for everyone. Considering how stories make sense of the world and can help families pass on social skills and values to children, we focused on social-emotional learning at home for children aged 0 by encouraging families to share their intergenerational stories with kids through playful digital and non-digital tools.
COPUBLICA uses technology to drive SEL learning to families around the world. Families can use it on any device and can create a family story using SEL-based topics because we believe- that storytelling alone gives children opportunities for a brighter future and can foster personal and collective growth and well-being.
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Brian Baptista
Email: press@copublica.dk
Phone: +4593958033 (WhatsApp)
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Website: https://copublica.dk