Building Emotional Intelligence

Linda Lantieri has written a new book, Building Emotional Intelligence: Practices to Cultivate Inner Resilience In Children. In the book, she writes about establishing new rituals and routines as a family that can help children to keep calm and focus the mind. According to Lantieri, the more children can begin to experience moments of quiet and stillness, the more they will feel an inner balance and flow, which offsets the overstimulation that is so abundant in life. She suggests the following rituals and routines:

• Have a dinnertime quieting ritual. Around dinnertime, light a candle and have a few moments of silence as everyone focuses on the flames of the candle.
• Create a peace corner. A peace or calming corner is a special place that you set aside at home. Members of your family can go there whenever they need calm and stillness, in order to regain their inner balance and flow.
• Use calming music. The sound of soft, slow classical music can really help stressful transition times such as when children are getting ready for school.
• When driving children in the car, have a few minutes of silence and ask your children to notice what they see, hear and feel during that time.
• Honour nature and provide opportunities to be outdoors. A relationship with nature is like any good relationship. It needs to unfold over time, moving towards intimacy and respect.

Finally, we wish all our families a happy and safe holiday.

Mr Brendan Delaney, Director of Students