We, the modern mothers, often hear from the representatives of the older generation that twenty, thirty, forty years ago the children (that is, we with you) were not so hyperactive, stubborn, capricious as now. Indeed, there is a great deal of truth in their words. Each generation of children has its own characteristics of emotional development. Why does this happen?
Modern children grow in a huge flow of information. If you are reading this article now, it means that you are not a convinced ascetic who has gone to a remote village and refused the benefits of civilization. So, you can hardly imagine your life without a TV, a computer with Internet access, a mobile phone. Accordingly, your child, most likely, has already mastered these and other gifts of technical progress to some extent (the son of the author of this article, for example, learned to use the remote control from the TV set at the age of 7 months).
Diagnosis of emotional and moral development
A few years ago it was possible to agree with the statement that the main task of parents is to give the child intellectual development, and the emotional sphere will form itself. Now we can say that everything is exactly the opposite. One can believe or not believe in the theory of evolution, but researchers agree that in modern children nature has a need and ability to perceive and process a huge flow of information. Has it ever happened that your child insists on showing him a cartoon. Then one more, then another? .. And to play with your mobile phone for him is much more interesting and desirable than to pobormanitsya or run with your mother? Your child requires new and new food for the mind, while emotional development lags behind. There are cases of delayed emotional development (the severe form of which is a specific delay in mental development, which is a disease).
To avoid this problem, it is necessary to take care of the timely diagnosis of the emotional and moral development of the child and, if necessary, to help this development. When you need to do this, it's up to you, because you know your child best. Of course, there is no need to show the child to the psychologist in the first months of life, because the emotional development of the infant depends more on the natural patterns than on your efforts. But the preschooler does not interfere. Psychologists have developed various methods for diagnosing the emotional and moral development of children. For example, the method of "plot pictures": the child is shown pictures depicting the positive and negative actions of peers and suggest that they be decomposed into two piles according to the principle of "bad-good". Such methods help to diagnose and correct the development of the emotional-volitional sphere of the child.
What can parents do for themselves?
First, to develop the emotional intelligence of your child, begin as early as possible to enter into the active vocabulary words denoting different emotions: "I'm happy", "I'm sad", "are you angry?", Etc.
There are also games for the development of the emotional sphere: for example, the famous game "sea figure" and its variations; a game of "masks" (the child is offered facial expressions to represent this or that emotion, feeling, and the other child or adult must guess what the child has planned). You can invite the child to draw, dance to suitable music: "joy", "surprise", "sadness", "grief", "fear".
Many psychologists emphasize music as a means of developing the emotional sphere of a preschooler. Music does not use specific images, and therefore it acts directly on emotions, and not on intellect. You can listen to music, dance to it, discuss with the child the feelings that are born when listening. For young children who are not able to directly listen to music (they are distracted, they can not sit still), there are special developing films (for example, "Baby Einstein", a series of "Music Box"): classical music is accompanied by a simple visual perception .
If you decide to start a pet - it will also contribute to the emotional development of your child. Just do not buy for this purpose exotic snakes and lizards. Stop the choice on traditional animals: emotional and devoted dogs and sympathetic cats.
Very important is the social and emotional development of preschool children. In order for the child to adapt in the community, he learned to express, and also control his emotions among peers, visit the children's development center, do not bypass the playground. In addition, responsibly consider the choice of the moment your child enters the kindergarten - there is no universal prescription in this matter, but the general recommendation is this: it is not too early, but not too late. You do not need to be afraid of this, because you and only you know your child so well to see in it the readiness for this important step.
And in conclusion - the most important wish. Give your child positive emotions, and he will answer you the same!