Emotional intelligence, in children, means their ability to recognize and understand their own emotions as well as the emotions of others. It is a combination of self-awareness and empathy.
Young children can easily get overwhelmed by the complexities of their emotions during new and challenging experiences. They are almost always filled with a whirlwind of feelings like excitement or frustration. Teaching them how to recognize and express their feelings in a healthy manner can play a key role in shaping and developing them as they grow older.
Emojis and emoticons are a great, visual way for kids to express how they are feeling, and can be used in so many different ways to open up that conversation about those emotions we all experience in life.
On Wear your Emoji Day, our tiny tots came wearing the emoji that best describes them and explained what their emoji represents. It was overwhelming when our children enacted various feelings like happiness, anger, surprise, shock, scared in a very professional way. They all went home with the learning that feeling different emotions is normal and that they need to lend a helping hand when their loved ones are unhappy or scared.
