Emotional Intelligence

Perhaps the most adorable thing that I have ever witnessed, is the affection show between two young siblings. I have seen several accounts where when one sibling is sad or crying, the other will respond to ensure to them that "it'll be ok" and mostly this is followed by a caring hug. I know sometimes to get my little sisters attention I would pretend to cry, and when she was about 2 or 3 she would easily fall for it, and hug and pat me down saying "don't cry kaywa." Now 6 years old, she can tell a sincere cry from that of a fictitious one, and instead says "Kayla, your just being a silly sister, your not really sad!" From infancy, every human has empathy. You enter into a room in a hospital filled with infants, and once one cries so does the whole bunch. And studies have proved that when infants hear their own cries on re-cording it doesn't affect them, until they hear recordings over other babies crying. At such young ages, it is important to foster this feeling of empathy, in order for the child to be an emotionally stable individual, as well as a very social being.

Infants don't like seeing others sad or distressed, and without any actual vocal dialogue to interpret feelings, they can see the facial expressions as well as body language of others to sense their emotions. Experiments like the stony face paradigm, show that as infants, babies can understand the emotional expressions of the parent through joyous interactions, and when their parents put on a emotionless face in the experiment, the infants experience immediate discomfort. So while infants don't begin to take perspectives until a little further into childhood, they can show very empathetic gestures and emotions to those surrounding them, having a close relationship to that individual or not. They sense this distress, and want to make it stop, so as infants they cry, until they are old enough to comfort others through their words or even gestures. Empathy is the ability to recognize, accept, and understand other's emotions. Such empathy is built on self awareness which can be defined as recognizing , accepting, and expressing one's own emotions.

Although we are born with these empathetic emotions and feelings, it is the job of the parent or caregiver to continue to foster these feelings. Attunement, which is the parent's recognition, acceptance, and reciprocation of an infant's emotions, is the key factor in continuing to foster empathy. What parent's should not take part in is, ignoring the feelings of the infant when their expressing themselves, showing contempt for the child's emotions, and not intervening in the child's interactions at all. When children are sad, or get into fights, or just need comfort, it never helps to just yell and automatically discipline them. If they're sad, boy or girl, they should be aloud to cry, you should hear them out when their discussing how a situation makes them feel, and you should always help them understand why fighting is not appropriate (rather than immediate scolding). Empathy comes from being emphasized with, and such feelings support a happier and more stable development, as well as a good social life in the future.