Creating Emotionally Supportive Environments for Children

Emotional intelligence is a key success factor, but in order to develop emotional intelligence in others, we must first develop it in ourselves. This workshop takes a deep dive into examining our own behavior in order to learn about others’ behavior. We will discuss psychological concepts such as the triune brain, the JoHari window, negative core beliefs, self-protecting behaviors, and regressed behaviors. Participants will examine their own history to determine influences on their interactions. We will then apply these concepts to our work in the ECE classroom as we discuss how to communicate with respect, the reasons that children misbehave, the effects of praise, and the pitfalls of typical classroom management strategies and systems.