Emotional Intelligence & Early Childhood: A Personal Development Plan

This assignment presents a personal plan focusing on the development of emotional intelligence (EQ) for early childhood professionals working with infants and toddlers. It highlights the importance of emotional intelligence in managing one's own emotions and understanding those of others. The plan identifies key aspects of EQ, including self-awareness, motivation, and empathy, and emphasizes their significance in infant and toddler pedagogy. It addresses the development of socio-emotional skills through love, support, and encouragement, outlining strategies to improve EQ gaps such as managing anger and fostering open communication. The plan also includes a reference list of interdisciplinary research informing infant and toddler curriculum concerning emotional competence and relationships. This document is available on Desklib, where students can find a wide range of solved assignments and study resources.

Personal Plan

Table of Contents
Emotional Intelligence...........................................................................................................................3
Key Aspects of Emotional Intelligence...................................................................................................3
Self-awareness...................................................................................................................................3
Motivation.........................................................................................................................................3
Empathy............................................................................................................................................3
Importance of Emotional Intelligence...................................................................................................4
Developmental Area of Emotional Intelligence.....................................................................................4
Personal Plan.........................................................................................................................................4
Reference..............................................................................................................................................7

Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is very important in everyone’s life as it is the ability of a person to
recognise the emotions that they feel as well as the emotions of others. As a professional
dealing with infants and toddlers I feel the need of developing emotional intelligence within
myself and also among the little ones I come across every day.
Key Aspects of Emotional Intelligence
Personal competence along with relationship competence has to be developed among these
children. The former emphasises on oneself while the latter focuses on relationships one
shares with others. The major aspects of EQ which needs to be developed among the infants
and toddlers are self-awareness, motivation and empathy (Joseph, et.al, 2015).
Self-awareness
Self-awareness is very important to build from a tender age so that these little ones grow up
knowing themselves well. This will also give them self-confidence to do something by
believing in their own capacity as well as help them to manage their own emotions.
Motivation
Motivation is very important in the growth years of children. Infants and toddlers often fail to
achieve success at the first attempt. They fail and fear to attempt the same again. This is the
time when parents, care givers and teachers need to motivate them. A failure is not the end
but the beginning and this must be drilled in the young minds.
Empathy

Empathy is also a characteristic which the infants and toddlers need to develop so that they
do not get self-centred and also understand the emotions of others, like friends, siblings, etc.
Importance of Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is a very important part of infant and toddler pedagogy because the
ones with higher emotional intelligence would be able to manage themselves better (Mas &
Castella, 2016). They would be more attentive at their work. This would also help them to be
empathetic towards others, helping them build better relationships.
According to Mayer, Caruso and Salovey, (2016) emotional intelligence enhances the ability
to reflect as well as regulate emotions in daily life.
Developmental Area of Emotional Intelligence
The development of socio-emotional skills among infants and toddlers is an area which needs
to be developed. The love and support from parents, caregivers, teachers and others, can
develop such socio-emotional skills (Petrides, et.al, 2016). Children need to feel important
and encouraged. They must be given opportunities to prove themselves so that they develop
the skills accomplish a task on their own and to mix with people socially. The children need
to be heard so that they can share their emotions. They need to be made disciplined and
routine so that they get used to a systematic lifestyle. The close ones must show their
emotional attachment and feelings towards the children so that they feel their love and
warmth.
Personal Plan
My EQ gaps Strategies to improve Potential scenarios when
high EQs will be beneficial

Making comparison among
two children
I will try and point out the
strong points in both and ask
two children to help each
other overcome their
weaknesses.
This makes both the children
confident as they know their
strengths. As a professional I
become more encouraging
and motivating.
Shouting at the infants and
toddlers when they are
creating a chaos
I need to control my anger
because getting angry at the
children creates a rude image
before them. I should stay
calm and composed which
are the attributes of my
mature personality. I will try
to initiate some activity to
control the chaos and
channelize my anger in a
positive direction.
Being calm and not
displaying anger before
everyone helps one to think
logically and take a wise
decision. Children too need
to learn to control their anger
otherwise it could be
destructive at such a tender
age. The children would want
to share their feelings
without being scared of me if
they see me not getting angry
at them often.
Insisting a child to open up
and share their feelings even
when they say that they have
nothing to share
This can be solved by leaving
the child on her own for
some time. Reading out good
books to the children,
showing them positive
videos, helping them to get a
positive outlook by talking
Reading good books and
watching inspirational videos
can help me develop my
emotional intelligence and be
happy. Moreover the children
will be happy and cheerful in
such cases.

positively with them.

Reference
Joseph, D. L., Jin, J., Newman, D. A., & O'boyle, E. H. (2015). Why does self-reported
emotional intelligence predict job performance? A meta-analytic investigation of mixed
EI. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(2), 298.
Mas, M. T., & Castellà, J. (2016). Can Psychomotricity improve cognitive abilities in
infants?. Aloma: revista de psicologia, ciències de l'educació i de l'esport Blanquerna, 34(1),
65-70.
Mayer, J. D., Caruso, D. R., & Salovey, P. (2016). The ability model of emotional
intelligence: Principles and updates. Emotion Review, 8(4), 290-300.
Petrides, K. V., Mikolajczak, M., Mavroveli, S., Sanchez-Ruiz, M. J., Furnham, A., & Pérez-
González, J. C. (2016). Developments in trait emotional intelligence research. Emotion
Review, 8(4), 335-341.