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Emotional Intelligence Activities for Kids: Guest Post

December 21, 2018/in Digital Parenting

“It is not what you do for your children, but what you have taught them to do for themselves, that will make them successful human beings.” -Ann Landers

The benefits of emotional intelligence are plentiful. A Harvard Study of Adult Development found that close relationships, made possible by emotional intelligence, are one of the most important factors in lifelong happiness and health.  

Other studies link emotional intelligence to:

  • better physical health
  • more academic success
  • greater employment success
  • higher financial earnings
  • happier marriages and better relationships
  • an overall positive outlook on life

Focusing on emotional intelligence from birth can really change the trajectory of your child’s success and happiness in life. In fact, a longitudinal British study followed people for 50 years from birth into adulthood. Their success and happiness in life was strongly correlated to their emotional intelligence.

So what exactly is emotional intelligence? What characteristics make a person emotionally intelligent? And how can parents instill those lessons in kids from an early age?

Five components of emotional intelligence

1. Self Awareness

​Self awareness is a strong understanding of yourself, what triggers you, motivates you, what causes you to react—and then using all of that information to consciously decide how to act as a result. High levels of self-awareness enable us to monitor our emotions and thoughts to better understand ourselves, be at peace with who we are, and proactively manage our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. People with high levels of self awareness tend to have a very positive outlook on life and are usually more compassionate to themselves and others.  

#raisingEI Tip: To build self awareness in kids, parents can use a robust emotional vocabulary everyday, explain to your child how you are feeling and how you process those emotions.

2. Self Regulation

Self-regulation is the ability to process and respond accordingly to the wide range of emotions and experiences we have every day. A child who can self-regulate is able to show focussed attention, control emotions, and manage thinking, behavior and feelings. A key to self regulation is giving kids tools that they can use to process all of their emotions and resist from labeling emotions as “good” or “bad.”

#raisingEI Tip: Parents can use and teach deep conscious breathing to build self regulation—it’s an effective technique to use for processing ALL emotions.

3. Motivation

Motivation is the reason someone acts or behaves in a certain way. There are several different types of motivation. External (extrinsic) motivation is driven by other people, rewards, and other outside factors. Internal (intrinsic) motivation comes from within and is driven by personal satisfaction or accomplishment.

#raisingEI TIP: Parents can build inner drive by avoiding the word “no;” always give the “why” to teach kids the motivation behind the action.

4. Empathy

Empathy is recognizing or sensing someone else’s feelings combined with the ability to understand their actions by putting yourself in their shoes. It’s the root of gratitude, selflessness, and healthy human connection.

#raisingEI TIP: Parents can model the behavior you want to see from their children; use every opportunity to model empathy and explain to your child how you’re being empathetic in a situation.

5. Social Skills

Social Skills are the way in which we interact with each other, the ability to read a social situation, behave according to social norms, understand verbal and non verbal cues.

#raisingEI TIP: Start a daily family gratitude practice. See how to start in this post.

Parenting with emotional intelligence

With the holidays fast approaching, here are my top 3 tips parents can use to raise emotional intelligence in their kids this winter.

Tip 1: Make holiday meals matter

Holidays often revolve around family get-togethers and holiday meals. This winter, add a new  family tradition by inviting a family in need to join you. Introducing your children to a family in need and sharing a meal together helps to build emotional intelligence traits of empathy and awareness of others. By inviting a family in need into your home or preparing a meal with your kids and taking it to their home, the family tradition will leave you and your kids feeling grateful this season, and excited to do it again next time!

Tip 2: Make present time family time

Opening presents has become a staple of the holiday season. Incorporate an emotional intelligence lesson by planning a family activity in lieu of one gift this year. Families can do this activity individually or in teams; each person or team plans a family activity and decides which item(s) on their list to forego. Parents can also offer a prize for the best planned or most fun family activity.

Tip 3: Make feelings memorable

Teaching emotional intelligence traits can sometimes be a lesson in the abstract. Create a photo book with highlights from your year together as a family. Use descriptive words such as gratitude, happiness, family, in the photo captions and leave it in a prominent place in your home. A great photo book can really set the best mood for the winter holiday and kick off the season with a focus on joy, gratitude, and family.

 

Explore more Digital Parenting Topics

Learn more about Relay

 

Supna is the founder of WeGo Kids and a mom of triplets. WeGo kids is dedicated to inspiring parents to nurture emotional intelligence in their children from an early age.  You can download your free beginner’s guide to emotional intelligence parenting at raisingEI.com.

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Get to Know Relay: Channels

December 11, 2018/in Relay in Action

Channels are like apps for your Relay. You can turn them on and off whenever you want and you can customize each Relay with the ones you want to use. Here, you’ll find a list of all Relay’s channels and see how they work.

Chat: Talk to friends and family

Everyone channel

By default, your Relay will send messages to everyone on your account, including your Relay app. When you are on the Relay channel, push the talk button to communicate with everyone on your account. Unlike a traditional walkie-talkie, your account is private and no one else can join or listen.

Custom Channels

You can setup new chat channels in the Relay app, one for mom and dad, one for the kids, and any other combination you want. Find out how to create and manage your custom channels below.

  • How to create new channels
  • How to manage your channels

Direct Chats

Direct chats let you talk one-on-one with anyone on you account. A Direct Chat is automatically set up between all Relay devices and apps on your account to make communication faster. As well, if you miss a message in Direct Chat, you can listen to it later.

  • How to use Direct Chats 
  • Listening to missed messages on your Relay device
  • Listening to missed messages on your Relay app

Open Chat

Do your kid’s friends have Relays? They can still chat, even if they’re far away. Relay account owners can send invitations through the app so the kids can chat, even on different accounts. See how to use Open chat here.

  • How to send an Open chat Invitation
  • How to accept an Open Chat invitation

Instant Chat

Want to create a temporary chat channel? Just switch to the Instant Chat channel, bump two Relays together, and they’ll be able to chat—even if they’re on different accounts! It’s great for playdates and the channel goes away once the Relay switches to a different channel.

SOS alert icon

SOS: If your child needs help, you won’t miss the alert.

Sending an SOS alert is as simple as pressing the talk button 5 times. Once a child does that, every parent connected to that child’s Relay through the app receives a special alert―as well as constant location updates.

Once an SOS alert is sent, all connected adults are notified, and can respond quickly. Both you and your child can feel safe, and secure!

  • How to enable SOS alerts for Relay
  • How to send and resolve an SOS alert

 

Music: listen to your favorite tunes

Add your child’s favorite songs directly to the Relay so they can listen on the go, either out loud or with headphones. They can play, pause, shuffle, and skip tracks with the press of a button, and most file formats are supported.

  • How to use the Music Channel

Translate: learn something new

Let your kids learn something new with the translate channel! Speak in one language and hear it translated into another. We support 13 languages and counting. You can use your Relay app to setup language translation on each of your Relays, changing which languages it can speak. See how to use the translate channel here.

  • How to use the Translate Channel

Daily Joke: kid-friendly laughs

Get new, funny content every day, and listen to the previous days’ jokes! All you have to do is enable the channel through your Relay app. Jokes are appropriate for kids of all ages.

  • How to use Daily Jokes

Echo: silly sounds on demand

This silly channel is enabled on your Relays by default. Just turn to the echo channel, tap the talk button, and her your words repeated back to you in a high-pitched or low-pitched voice. Learn more about this channel here.

  • How to use the echo channel

More channels in the works

We’re always looking for new ways to make Relay convenient for your family and fun for your kids. That’s why we are always working on new features and ways to make our existing features even better. Check back here for a list of up-to-date channels, and sign up if you want to be the first to know about new features!

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  Want more info on Channels? Check out these articles!

  • How to change channels on a Relay
  • How to enable channels on a Relay
  • How to send a channel alert

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Ryan’s Family Review: Holiday Pretend Play with Relay

December 10, 2018/in Relay in Action

Keep your family together this season with the smartphone alternative that doesn’t distract from playtime fun. See how Ryan from Ryan Toys Review likes it as his mom guides him through a holiday maze full of hidden presents!

The gift that keeps family connected

“I think it’s a perfect present for Ryan and a perfect present for mommy and daddy too, because mommy and daddy can talk to each other and we can talk to you wherever you are. That is so cool!”

Not only can mom and dad talk to the kids using Relays of their own, they can simply use the Relay app on their smartphones to send and receive messages! And bonus: if your kid’s friends have Relays, parents can set up Open Chat channels so the kids can talk, even on different accounts!

Make pretend play adventures even better

“Parents, using the Relay you can talk to your kids anywhere at any time and know exactly where they are. And they will love the independence it gives them and make their playtime even better—all without giving them an addictive screen.”

Using the app, you can locate your kids with GPS. That means they can go farther, getting the independence that a smartphone would bring—but without the screen, the apps, or the internet. Just communication with the people that matter and Kidsafe® features like music playlists, daily jokes, and fun voice-changing features.

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