By
Linda Lanteri
Introduction and Practices Guided by Daniel Goleman
What’s the most important piece of your
child’s education? If you think it’s math, science,
or grammar, you might be overlooking an element that is fast
becoming essential in today’s stressful world: cultivating
inner resiliency.
In Building Emotional Intelligence, pioneering educator
Linda Lantieri offers a breakthrough guide for helping children
quiet their minds, calm their bodies, and identify and manage
their emotions. Here are Lantieri’s proven techniques
arranged according to age group, complemented by a spoken-word
CD with exercises presented by Daniel Goleman, co-founder of
the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning
(CASEL) and author of the best-selling book Emotional Intelligence.
Complete with easy-to-use scripts and step-by-step instruction,
Building
Emotional Intelligence is the definitive guide to cultivating
resiliency in children.
Readers will learn:
+ How to building inner preparedness
+ How to teach children exercises
to calm the body and focus the mind
+ Exercises to calm the body and
focus the mind for 5–7 year olds
+ Exercises to calm the body and
focus the mind for 8–11 year olds
+ Exercises to calm the body and
focus the mind for 12 year olds and up
+ How to prepare children to lead
us into the 21st century
“We need a new vision of education that includes the mind
and the heart,” says Lantieri. With Building Emotional
Intelligence, parents, teachers, and caregivers have the
tools necessary to help build these invaluable skills in the
children they raise.
Praise
for Building Emotional Intelligence
"We all know kids struggle with stress.
Now, Building Emotional Intelligence tells us how to
help. Lantieri's simple but powerful exercises will help you
inoculate your child with crucial coping skills to face a range
of life challenges. This wonderful little book can take you
on a sacred journey with your child and teach both of you lessons
to last a lifetime."
Rachel Simmons,
author, "Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression
in Girls"
--
This is the best book I know to help children
learn inner-life practices that can strengthen and sustain them.
A moving mix of compassion, skillful means, and wisdom that
can support young people growing up in a perilous but still
promising world.
Parker J. Palmer,
author of “The Courage to Teach”
--
“In this collaboration, Linda Lantieri
and Dan Goleman form a dream team to help children discover
and refine their deep inner capacities for well-being, calmness,
relaxation, and emotional intelligence. Their program is a marvelous
way for parents and their children to adventure together to
build inner strengths and resiliency in dealing with the many
stresses that children face in their daily lives.”
Jon Kabat-Zinn,
Ph.D, Professor of Medicine emeritus UMass Medical School &
Founding Director of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center
for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society
--
“This book is critically needed at this
important time in education in the United States. Schools have
been consumed with improving children’s math and literacy
skills, but too often have neglected the important impact of
strong social and emotional learning skills. The Anchorage School
District has long been a partner in this important work with
Ms. Lantieri and her colleagues, and the results are profound!
I highly recommend this book.”
Carol Comeau,
Superintendent, Anchorage School District & Chair, Executive
Committee, the Council of Great City Schools
--
What a gift Linda Lantieri and Daniel Goleman
give to children with Building Emotional Intelligence!
The wonderful and appealing exercises and activities promise
to cultivate in children a deep reserve of calm and inner resilience
that will sustain them now and for the rest of their lives.
Nancy Carlsson-Paige,
author of “Taking Back Childhood” and professor
of education at Lesley University.
--
A comprehensive guide with practical exercises
for parents and their children to calm the body and focus the
mind. Using principles derived from modern brain research, Linda
Lantieri has created a novel curriculum that promises to be
enormously helpful in building a foundation for a successful
life by cultivating skills in managing disturbing emotions,
increasing empathy and cooperation and instilling calmness.
This book and accompanying CD will be of interest to all parents
who wish their children to be happy and successful.
Richard J. Davidson,
William James and Vilas Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Director, Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior
University of Wisconsin-Madison
--
Building Emotional Intelligence will
be a welcome resource for parents and teachers seeking to teach
children to slow down and listen to their inner voices.
Marian
Wright Edelman, President, Children’s Defense Fund
Reader's
Reviews
Susan Glick
 April 16,
2008
I am a Guidance Counselor at a private school
in Miami Florida. Building Emotional Intelligence is
a must have book that offers clear strategies to support children
in becoming resilient and coping with a fast paced and sometimes
stressful world. I have been using the activities and the CD
by Daniel Goleman since I read it. My students have really enjoyed
the CD and benefitted by the activities offered. I've recommended
it to several parents with children who need support coping
with day to day stresses and it is great to have a book which
I can confidently recommend. It is concisely written and in
a format that is easy to access by age group.
This is the kind of book I wished I had when I was raising my
children who are now in their twenties. This is a must have
for Guidance Counselors and parents.
Lynne Hurdle-Price
May 8, 2008
This is a book that makes sense. So many parents
and educators are concerned about the extraordinary amount of
stress and pressure our children are experiencing. This book
allows educators the opportunity to follow a step by step lesson
plan along with other helpful tips to reduce that stress. Parents
will find that they can take the activities and do them at home
along with their child. Finally we're talking about the part
of our children that schools often overlook, their social and
emotional well being. It is written in understandable and relatable
language. I hope schools will buy this book for every educator
and parent in their school community!
Courtney
Martin May
5, 2008
I finally had a chance to read Building Emotional Intelligence
and found it a refreshing dose of "this is what matters"
with a special kid-focused twist. It's absolutely wonderful--so
moving and totally practical in a way that will undoubtedly
inspire to many parents, teachers, and students. Brava!
Susan
R. Merrick
April 18, 2008
I loved reading this book and found it spoke to me as a parent
in this busy, non-stop 21st century world. Raising children
in our Vermont school community, I'm sensitive to how busy families
are today and how stretched thin we all are. And yet, from conversations
I've been lucky to have with caring parents and guardians, it
is clear to me that so many of us seek a way to slow down a
bit, to share more quiet moments with our families, and to partner
with educators in empowering children, including (perhaps most
importantly) older students, to address and handle stress in
their everyday lives in healthy ways.
I found Building Emotional Intelligence
offered step-by-step, practical approaches to allowing this
to happen - both at home and in our schools. These approaches
enable all of us, children, youth and adults, to tap into resources
we already have within us to slow down, reflect, and make mindful
decisions. Rather than making parents feel guilty about what
we're not doing to support our children, this book invites us
to look at what we already are doing that's good - and simply
build from there. I also loved Linda's awareness that these
steps to children's self-awareness will involve the commitment
of all adults, a true village approach to launching children
to compassionate, respectful adulthood. She writes, "We
must foster the compassion, insight, and commitment to ourselves
and each other that will be necessary to tackle the deep emotional,
social, political and spiritual dilemmas of our time" (141).
I couldn't agree more.
I respectfully invite all parents and guardians
to share copies of this book with one another and ask your children's
teachers what you might do to support them and their classrooms.
Linda speaks of collaboration, and in my mind there is no better
way to honor children than to let them know they have a village
of adults who care about each of them.
Auriel
A. Gray
April 17, 2008
As an elementary school counselor for over twenty years I have
been looking for effective resources to share with students,
parents and teachers that are practical and support the teaching
of foundational self-regulation skills. Building Emotional
Intelligence is the perfect developmental guide for both
educators and parents in this respect, as it is very user-friendly
and easy to implement with children of all ages.
The chapters are arranged in developmental
stages and clearly describe simple activities appropriate for
each school age. The actitivies are also provided in the accompanying
CD, which is an ingenious way to support their intended application.
My students have been loving the self-calming and focusing exercises
on the CD, which have stimulated meaningful discussion. After
doing one of the listening exercises on the CD this week, one
kindergartener said,'When I feel lonely, I listen to my heart
beat and then I know I'm not alone'. A guidance counselor couldn't
ask for a more engaged outcome.
Our goal is to share this book with as many
teachers and parents in our area as possible. One of our esteemed
parents has said about it, 'This could change the world!'. Thank
you, Linda, for this much-needed inner, as well as outer, peace
tool.
Margarita
C. Avalos
April 16, 2008
After attending a seminar and listening to Linda Lantieri speak,
I had to purchase this book. I read most of it on my flight
home. As a guidance counselor I found this book to be filled
with wonderful practical ideas to share with teachers and parents.
Maggie Camara-Avalos, LCSW
Director of Guidance
Miami Country Day School
Martha
Eddy April
15, 2008
I was pleased to receive my copy of Building Emotional Intelligence
yesterday. I've already read it cover to cover. As a parent,
researcher, and educator who values social-emotional intelligence,
contemplative practices, and the importance of body awareness
this book has it all. I have learned new facts and been re-inspired!
It is a satisfying book filled with up-to-date facts and exciting
wellness practices that support emotional growth and development.
This attractive guide complete with a DVD by Daniel Goleman
has been fun to use with children as a parent, a friend, or
teacher; I highly recommend it.
Martha Eddy, CMA, Ed.D.
Director, Center for Kinesthetic Education
New York City
Click
here to purchase Building Emotional Intelligence
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