Yahoo Lifestyle 
Why 'EQ' Is The Most Important Thing You Can Teach Your Kids
For decades, parents searching for a clearer picture of their children’s supposed brainpower turned to IQ (“intelligence quotient”) tests.
They’ve largely fallen out of favour, partly because experts say they don’t work but also because parents’ values in terms of what they want for their kids and expect of them have changed.
These days, more than 90% of parents say it is important to them to raise kids who are caring. We want children who are emotionally stable and empathetic. We want kids who are equipped to deal with a difficult and ever-changing world.
In other words, move over IQ (yes, to a point). We want kids with high “EQ.”
Here’s what parents need to know about the concept and how to get started.
“EQ” is all about emotional intelligence.
There isn’t a clear-cut definition for what “EQ” (“emotional quotient”) actually means because it’s really a loose, unofficial term. But generally, when people talk about EQ, they’re talking about a person’s emotional intelligence. And according to psychologist and science journalist Daniel Goleman, who helped popularise the term in the 1990s, emotional intelligence generally encompasses four domains: a person’s self-awareness, their ability to self-manage, their social awareness, and their ability to manage relationships effectively.
Put even more simply? Emotional intelligence is all about having “greater awareness of your emotions so that you can manage them more effectively,” Korrel Kanoy, author of “The Student EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and Your Academic and Personal Success,” told HuffPost.
Because the whole concept of emotional intelligence is broad, there aren’t big, robust scientific studies that say having high EQ clearly leads to long-term benefits.
But there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence that being self-aware and being able to work through tough emotions in a constructive way will only help kids throughout their lives.
