Emotional and Social Awareness

Introduction

The world is gradually becoming dynamic and unpredictable. Bringing up a resilient child in the contemporary world that is fast-paced and complex is more challenging because of the myriad of challenges faced by individuals in their daily lives. Educators, professionals, parents and other stakeholders have expressed their concern on the development of future generations into adulthood (Rogers, 3). The stage calls for self-regulation to avoid indulging in antisocial behavior. Self-regulation describes the ability to monitor and manage one's behaviors, thoughts and emotions. It enables the students to fully concentrate on a given lesson despite the distraction from noisy classmates, excitements about oncoming birthday parties or a problem they encountered during recess. Additionally, self-regulation promotes the interactions of students with their teachers and schoolmates.

Studies have indicated that students equipped with effective self-regulation skills excel in academic performance and peer interactions. Executive functional skills form the basis of social-emotional competence along with self-regulation. Learning institutions should enforce attention, behavioral control and use of memory in children. Emotional awareness involves understanding the causes of feelings and recognizing the difference between the emotions and feelings. Social and emotional intelligence is the core of the success of any student in school. Addressing the emotional and social needs of children by creating a mindset curriculum is effective in improving the child’s academic achievements.

Social and Emotional Awareness

Social and emotional awareness plays a significant role in the development of a well-rounded individual.  Humanity faces social challenges in their daily lives and makes social-emotional interaction a prospective problem for every person. Concerns and a wide range of queries have emerged questioning the development of the future generations into adults. Every adult hopes and wishes that the young people become responsible, knowledgeable, emphatic citizens and future leaders. The key to realizing such an outcome is the skills that the children develop through social as well as emotional experiences. The ideal venue for the occurrence of such developments is the after-school programs. The programs if implemented effectively recognize and address the diverse needs of children by engaging them in activities in which they express their sensitivities, emotions, talents and creativities. At the same time, the children develop a sense of self and well-being that enables them to be functional in a complex society. The children have distinct emotional and cognitive intelligence (Webster-Stratton and Jamila, 98). Besides, they have unique skills, experiences, and talents and through interaction, they can develop their abilities to the maximum. Since the children are brought along multiple pathways that are interconnected, they require an assortment of opportunities to enhance their reasoning skills, imagination, creativity, and problem-solving.

Socially and emotionally competent children can manage their feelings along with recognizing and responding effectively to other people’s feelings at school, with family and peer relationships as well as in pursuits of sport, community or organizations. Children equipped with social and emotional skills are most likely to lead happy and productive lives and cultivate habits that will enable them to realize personal and career success later in their adulthood. Nurturing and developing the social along with the emotional needs of a child improve their capacity to tolerate frustrations, avoid fights and engage in less risky behaviors. Such children become focused, less impulsive and healthier. Their relationships, as well as academic performance, improves. Self-awareness allows to manage and recover from bad moods quickly.  Children who are self- aware express feelings such as frustration, excitement, envy and fear and they understood such feelings in other people too (Schonert-Reichl et al. 52). Through self-awareness, the minors learn to recognize and understand their internal feelings. Through this, the children can identify events that cause anger, to control their emotions as well as manage their behaviors successfully.

 Effective social interactions in the home and school environment reinforce skills that are crucial in forming and maintaining relationships. The core skills include listening, empathy, responding appropriately to other individuals, working cooperatively and resolving conflicts amicably among others. The social skills along with self-awareness are instrumental for social and emotional learning since they permit the children to acclimatize the reactions of others, monitor their emotional expressions and refine their social behaviors to be effective in relationships or groups (Rogers, 15). Educators, parents, and guardians should teach children the critical social and emotional skills. One of the major ways through which the children can develop such skills is through play. Guided lessons that offer playful and joyful opportunities to the learners provide opportunities to interact, manipulate and explore their environment actively. Through play, the children build on their skills and learn to make decisions, solve problems and work in teams. Summer and after-school programs provide instructors with hands-on activities full of fun so that the students can enjoy a meaningful play. By incorporating such concepts into the current curriculum, the efficacy of the child improves, and he or she secures a successful future.

Self-motivation involves behaving responsibly, following through with one’s plans, focusing on the task at hand, portraying less repulsive behaviors along with paying attention. Motivation can be either intrinsic or extrinsic that are distinguished psychologically depending on whether one perceives the assignment as valuable in its right or merely a means to an end. The ability of children to manage their emotions along with behaviors and to form meaningful relationships is a critical prerequisite for academic success. Competency in social skills results in academic success while poor social skills are indicative of academic failure. Research indicates that the emotional, social and behavioral adjustments in the youngsters are vital for cognitive success as well as academic preparedness. The students who have difficulties in paying attention, relating with others, controlling their negative emotions and following the directions of the teacher have unsatisfactory performance.

The social and emotional competence of students can be improved by training them in cognitive, social and emotional management skills such as management of anger, close communication and problem-solving. Students who can manage their emotions and behaviors and to meaningful friendships especially when exposed to various life stressors may lead to their success in school. Research has revealed that schoolmates often reject students who cannot put their negative emotions under control and the teachers offer them less positive feedback making them lead a lonely life characterized by poor academic performance (Pooravari, Mahsima and Somaieh, 45). Children who have control over their emotions avoid put-downs, fights and classroom disruptions. They behave well and are rarely suspended or expelled from schools. Such children perform well since they can overcome any confusion that comes on their way. Besides, avoiding aggressive and self-destructive behaviors along with managing anger without engaging in fights is an indicator of social and emotional skills.

Useful interrelation skills enable the students to understand the feelings of others and this form the cornerstone of healthy relationships. Such students solve conflicts amicably by negotiating disagreements or using other skillful conflict solving methods. Besides, they can easily solve any problem in their relationships since they are well-equipped with practical communication skills. Friendly and outgoing students are popular and often sought out by their peers. They are concerned and considerate with the well-being of others. Such skills promote the social and emotional development in students and allow them to perform well in school (Mega, Lucia and Rossana, 121). Conclusively, creating emotional and social awareness in children enables them to develop social skills which are instrumental in their academic pursuits. The educators should instill the concepts in the learners to improve their self-efficacy and secure them a strong feature. Nonetheless, incorporating the concepts of self-awareness and responsible decision making among others in the curriculum cannot necessarily enhance their performance since hard work is the key to success.  Contrarily, self-motivation whether intrinsic or extrinsic can encourage the students to work hard to realize success. Through the relationships with their peers, the children can improve their emotional control which is associated with good performance. However, growing on test items is not an indicative of success since some of those tests are not standardized and cannot give a clear picture of the student’s abilities.

Conclusion

Correspondingly, social and emotional is vital for the development of a well-rounded individual. Through social-emotional skills, the youngsters will be able to deal with the challenges facing humanity in their day-to-day lives. People have expressed concerns about the development of the young generation into responsible adults. During adolescence, children forge their identity and learn self-efficacy. Besides, meaningful relationships and inner strength are formed during this stage.  Equipping them with self-regulation skills is critical since they are instrumental in the realization of success. As such, the emotional and social needs of the minors and creating a curriculum that promotes growth mindset will improve their academic achievements.

Works Cited

Mega, Carolina, Lucia Ronconi, and Rossana De Beni. "What makes a good student? How emotions, self-regulated learning, and motivation contribute to academic achievement." Journal of Educational Psychology 106.1 (2014): 121.

Pooravari, Minoo, Mahsima Pourshahriari, and Somaieh Salehi. "Review of literature on cognitive-behavioral therapy, behavioral parent training for aggressive behavior, and peer problem of children with conduct disorder." International Journal of Applied Behavioral Sciences 3.2 (2017): 43-55.

Rogers, W. Todd. "Improving the utility of large-scale assessments in Canada." Canadian Journal of Education/Revue canadienne de education 37.3 (2014): 1-22.

Schonert-Reichl, Kimberly A., et al. "Enhancing cognitive and social–emotional development through a simple-to-administer mindfulness-based school program for elementary school children: A randomized controlled trial." Developmental psychology 51.1 (2015): 52.

Webster-Stratton, Carolyn, and M. Jamila Reid. "Strengthening social and emotional competence in young children—The foundation for early school readiness and success: Incredible years classroom social skills and problem‐solving curriculum." Infants & Young Children 17.2 (2004): 96-113