Interpersonal Intelligence In Children: What It Is And How It Develops

Interpersonal intelligence in children is a very special kind of attitude. And that’s simply because the vast majority of people have it most prominently during childhood.

The key to understanding the importance of interpersonal intelligence in children is that, despite being a kind of skill or gift that most of us are born with, few people actually maintain that kind of intelligence into adulthood. Therefore, we want to indicate what it is and how it is possible to develop interpersonal intelligence as a permanent feature in children.

What is interpersonal intelligence in children?

Interpersonal intelligence is one of the skills present in Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences,  which is an intelligence classification model that has enormous implications in the teaching processes of many educational centers, as well as generating streams of specific achievements in different areas.

Returning to the topic we are talking about, interpersonal intelligence is about the ability to understand other people’s emotions and behaviors, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with others.

While it may seem like a trivial type of intelligence compared to mathematical or logical intelligence, for example, the truth is that the quality of life for people with interpersonal intelligence is generally much better than for people with low development of this type of intelligence.

When we were children, most of us had a great sensitivity to the emotions and situations of people who were part of our lives, keeping a great acumen to detect the emotional state of our parents or siblings. This is just by interacting with them a little bit, which is a skill that many adults completely miss.

Although the above seems a bit exaggerated for many, the truth is that our brains are in their infancy and, with complete scientific certainty, are much more powerful to perceive any external stimuli in favor of learning about the world around them. This aspect is biologically an important part of development.

Even so, we must not forget that, when we are children, we maintain the confidence and naturalness to form social connections that today is a characteristic very present in successful people, such as politicians, celebrities, presidents of corporations, heads of state, etc.

Interpersonal intelligence can determine your children’s success in adulthood

Academic education is a fundamental factor in any child’s development. But it’s not the only determining factor for success. Although it is often difficult to accept this, education is no guarantee of professional success, even if its absence guarantees the opposite. A good education and the hallmark of high interpersonal intelligence can make a huge difference when they are present in the same individual.

Knowing what to say at any given time can make the difference between getting the job you want, forming your dream or inspiring couple, and becoming a leader capable of managing and directing other talents towards a particular goal. On the contrary, poor interpersonal communication skills may simply mean not getting any of the above.

The above may result in a blunt comment for some people. But going to an empirical plane, it’s easy to find that while intelligence is important, it’s nothing if you don’t have a healthy level of interpersonal attitude. The good news is that it is possible to develop interpersonal intelligence at any age. But in this article, we will only cover its development and consolidation in childhood.

In daily life, in a more routine aspect, personal intelligence gives us the ability to:

• Resolve conflicts either with others or third parties. This can be seen even in children.
• Maintain a more professional image in everything you do. This does not imply greater knowledge than others. It’s the initiative to confidently use all your skills, to work with others, to appreciate the knowledge of others and to make the entire work environment or project you work on more harmonious.

• Knowing how to understand and assimilate the experiences of others, expressing genuine emotions of happiness for the success of others or showing solidarity with others about some circumstance.
• Being considered a good boss. These people know exactly what to say to an employee to motivate or correct him without embarrassing him or lowering his self-esteem.
• Understanding for others makes them good advisers.

Interpersonal intelligence is not the simple ability to make friends, it is the virtue of making others want to be our friends, of being able to brighten the day of the people around us  and making our presence add more value to ours. professional competence. A value that is difficult to match and capable of opening up a large number of opportunities in different areas.

Given this, you may want to begin to know how to encourage emotional intelligence in children so that you can include this focus in your upbringing.

How to foster the development of interpersonal intelligence in children

The development of interpersonal intelligence in children, as well as its maintenance, is based on activities that provide different interaction experiences. All relatively intense experiences, whether emotional or joyful, of sadness or fear, can be recorded in childhood. This allows the brain to encode much of the behavior that will manifest in adulthood, even if the person doesn’t remember the original event.

The excellent news is that a child’s brain is neutral in relation to learning and structuring the important information it receives at this stage, and can acquire habits of assertiveness, trust, honesty, etc. since childhood. Habits that will be preserved into adulthood.

For what interests us, interpersonal intelligence in children, some excellent activities can be performed to stimulate it:

• Theater. Participating in a play, whether at school or even at home, allows for a better development of plasticity of attitudes. It helps to polish your responses to certain stimuli in order to improve any social interaction.
• Imitating game. Playing imitations at home, whether among family members or children’s characters, is a fun way to assimilate and enhance interpersonal intelligence as a permanent feature.

• Expose yourself to new friendships. Camps, sports activities and any situation where you can safely relate to others. This is an excellent way for your child to begin to understand and assimilate different points of view, rules of coexistence that are different from school or home, and new experiences.

The secret to nurturing interpersonal skills in children

Interpersonal intelligence in children can develop in many ways in addition to those mentioned above. The main agenda for this is the exposure of the child to new interactions, new experiences, as these are imprinted in their minds thanks to the enormous learning capacity of children.

However, this does not imply that it is impossible to develop interpersonal intelligence in adult life. For example, just as the acquisition of a second language occurs, the level of articulation of a language different from the mother tongue will depend to a large extent on the age at which that language is contacted, manifesting a marked foreign accent in those who learn at a later age. or a practically native articulation for those who learn it in childhood.