We know that because of their changing brain, teens and tweens are much more likely than adults or children to succumb to their unpleasant (“negative”) emotions like frustration, anger, nervousness, and gloominess. For the same reason, they’re much more likely to engage in risky behaviors like substance use, reckless driving, posting inappropriately online and sex. The part of the brain that helps make good decisions and use self-control is much weaker than those emotional and risk-taking parts! So, how can we help? We can help them strengthen this weaker part of the brain by modeling and by coaching them through emotional moments. This helps develop their emotional awareness and emotional regulation skills, two important elements of emotional intelligence. Increasing emotional intelligence is critical in helping our kids respond appropriately in emotional and/or risky situations.

Listen as I explain emotional intelligence, the ways it helps teens succeed and most importantly, how you can help your teen increase theirs.

Access TRANSCRIPT here.

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You may be interested in one or more of my FREE Parenting Guides.

Sources, Resources and Mentions: 
Episode 3 (You Can Blame Your Teen’s Irrational Behavior on Their Changing Brain)

Episode 4 (Why Your Teen Does Stupid Stuff (Even When They Know Better)

Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More Than IQ Goleman

Inventing Ourselves: The Secret Life of the Teenage Brain Blakemore

The Teenage Brain Jensen

Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child Gottman (emotion coaching)

The Whole Brain Child Siegel and Bryson

No Drama Discipline Siegel and Bryson (geared towards parenting children but the same principles apply)

Parenting a Teen Who has Intense Emotions: DBT Skills to Help Your Teen Navigate Emotional and Behavioral Challenges Harvey and Rathbone

Episode 1 (Why Trying to Control Your Teen Will Backfire)

Use the Free Parenting Guides link above to find "The Challenging Adolescent Brain" e-book and "10 Keys to Unlock Your Teen’s Emotional Intelligence"

Mindfulness:

UCLA Mindful Awareness Research Center for learning more about mindfulness and mindful meditation plus free online guided mediations You can also download the “UCLA Mindful” guided mediations app here (all free!)

University of Oxford Mindfulness Center for extremely affordable online courses (and if the wait is too long, there have some wonderful links to other resource material here)

Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World Williams

A great article from mindful.org (also a great place to learn about mindfulness) about the best free mindfulness apps

For paid apps, I love both the Calm app (download on Apple or Google Play) and Headspace app (download on Apple of Google Play) and the NYTimes also recommends Healthy Minds Program (download on Apple and Google Play), which I’ve never used but it’s free and they highly recommend so you could give it a try!