What is Social Emotional Learning and How Do You Encourage it?

When you have children, it’s as if you’re experiencing life again for the first time.  There’s new technology that didn’t exist when you were younger.  There are new ways to solve math problems, new styles of clothing and even new forms of entertainment.  

There are also new concepts we learn as parents.  Things we didn’t necessarily know because we never had to.  Social emotional learning, or SEL, is one of those.

SEL is the way children and adults acquire knowledge and skills that impact their abilities to manage things like behavior and emotions and how they are able to set and achieve goals.  Children who learn how to have strong emotional and social competence are actually more likely to go farther in their schooling and more likely to also have a successful career.  

Within SEL, there are five main areas of practice as defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) a leader in SEL instruction.  

SELF-AWARENESS

This involves a greater understanding of what your strengths and weaknesses are as a person, which in turn helps an individual control their emotions.  It is the recognition of the link between thoughts and actions, allowing a person to make a decision with a level of insight that is elevated. 

SELF-MANAGEMENT

Self-management is related to self-awareness, but instead of recognition self-management is about regulation.  This is about impulse control and the ability to regulate emotions and actions in different types of situations. 

RESPONSIBLE DECISION MAKING

People who practice responsible decision making skills have the ability to consider how their goals, self-understanding and social factors influence their choices.  It’s an understanding of cause and effect and what can happen as the result of a decision. 

SOCIAL AWARENESS

This particular skill helps kids build and keep relationships because it places an emphasis on understanding others and elements like race, gender, culture, age and religion.  

RELATIONSHIP SKILLS

This particular skill helps kids understand how to react in regards to social normalcies.  Things like communication, cooperation, listening, conflict resolution and understanding emotions are things that are taught. 

There is an endless amount of research that shows the benefits of social emotional learning including proof that this type of learning helps reduce the likelihood of anxiety and depression, and improved confidence levels. 

Luckily for us parents, there are a ton of ways to turn everyday activities into an SEL lesson.  You can turn TV time into a lesson by posing questions to your little one about character feelings.  You can help your children manage their time and help them prioritize their day by making schedules and lists.  Craft time can be a lesson when you create vision boards for self-awareness.

The most important thing to remember about SEL is to continuously encourage development of the main areas.  Random acts of kindness like holding the door for someone or having constant conversation when doing everyday activities have a massive impact on your child. To influence your child’s self-awareness and other SEL areas, yours have to be developed too.