Understanding the impact of fostering on emotional intelligence
At Fostering UK, we pride ourselves on providing the highest quality of training to make sure all of our foster carers are capable of understanding the needs of their child, ensuring that they feel safe and cared for. Many of the children that come into care have endured a traumatic and stressful period of their lives. As a result, they can sometimes struggle to regulate their emotions. The past experiences of neglect and abuse means that they have emotional delays, meaning that they will often n ot have met the same emotional milestones as children living with their parents. As a Foster carer, this can provide added difficulty in caring and supporting your child.
As a foster carer you’re providing a child with the comfortable home life that is essential in developing emotional intelligence. The following steps can be taken to support your child in developing their emotions and dealing with them appropriately.
How you can help:
Being patient and sympathetic
The first step that needs to be understood is to be patient with your child and sympathetic to their problems. This involves finding a connection with your child when they are angry or frustrated. By encouraging them to tell you how they’re feeling it shows that you are listening to their problems. This means in the future they will be more likely to come to you with their problems, rather than acting out. You may find that you are the first person who actually takes the time to listen and understand their problems, in a non-judgmental way.
Remind them that it is okay to feel this way
It is so important that your child understands that what they are feeling is a natural human emotion, and they should not feel guilty about these feelings. By teaching them healthy coping methods, they can understand how to deal with their emotions without feelings of guilt or negativity.
Play Games
Games such as the traffic light game and ‘Simon Says’ can be used to teach your child to follow instructions while having fun. This is a useful method to instil good practices in a light-hearted environment. It is important to understand that your child following your instructions will not happen overnight, and it is a process that you need to spend time on. By setting up boundaries and rules in a daily routine using games, it makes the process seem more natural.
Look at your behaviour
As a child enters care, they are constantly using the world around them to learn new ways to deal with their emotions. Therefore, your child will use you as an example of how they should act. This is why it is vitally important that the children have adults around them who use appropriate methods and coping strategies to regulate their own emotions. By displaying appropriate behaviour when dealing with your own emotions, you are being a good role-model for your child. Due to their lack of emotional intelligence, it takes a lot of patience and nurturing from foster carers to support a foster child. However, knowing that you are developing core skills in a child’s life is an extremely rewarding experience.
Looking for an Oxfordshire Fostering Agency?
Fostering UK is looking for foster carers in Oxfordshire to help care for the hundreds of children in care in the area. We have a good track record with many happy foster carers currently working for us as we are a trusted agency in the area. By delivering the highest level of therapeutic support and training, we ensure all of our carers are comfortable in their role. To get more information about Fostering, as well as the areas we operate in, please visit our website. Or feel free to contact us at 0333 044 8890, one of our team will be more than happy to help with any questions or queries you may have.
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