It has been said that to understand all is to forgive all. I believe emotional intelligence is absolutely essential to real understanding, as well as real forgiveness. But when a child is afraid or confused, his cognitive brain shuts down, so he cannot learn. Years ago, John Holt recognized this when he said children fail because they are scared, bored, and confused. Beyond this, there are health reasons for learning to manage our emotions.
Laughter strengthens the immune system.
Stress, fear and worry weaken it. In other words, nature speaks to us through our emotions. Let us see, then, how we can help our children by raising their emotional intelligence. First, a note about the organization of this booklet. I have designed this to be a condensed version of my complete book on EQ for Teachers, which is currently in the process of a second edition revision.