Roughhousing Increases Emotional Intelligence



Do you roughhouse with your child? Far from having to perform the suplex wrestling maneuver on your kid, (or your spouse), roughhousing is a practical way to sustain, and build emotional intelligence, and executive function skills, including metacognition in children.

Unfortunately, many a times, especially in single parent households, roughhousing is an activity that can be easily forgotten. Parents can become too focused on work, schedules, and the routines of the day. Even so, 10 minutes a day of this can make most kids start the day supercharged and happy. This activity increases kids behavior modulation, self control, creative play, and provides kids with an opportunity to physically interact with their parents in a way that is self-regulating for them. Their faces light up. They love to do this with Mommy and Daddy. It brings parents to the floor, a level kids are very comfortable with, and it allows children to even vent out energy in a positive way.  Roughhousing even sets up a precursor to flirting due to the constant focus by both parties on ensuring that the 'play' is fun, harmless, and mischievious.

As a Father, and an Executive Function Skills Coach, roughhousing has its place in my 'tool bag.' Fathers, and mothers are urged to use this as a social skills strategy with their children who may be on the Autism Spectrum, have a Learning Disability, or be showcasing executive function skill deficits.

Here is a link on roughhousing from a website Coach Bill likes:

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2012/02/07/the-importance-of-roughhousing-with-your-kids/

For more, go to http://www.CoachBill.US
Twitter.Com @CoachBill007
Instagram: CoachBill007
Youtube: CoachBill007

Comments

Unknown said…
I loved roughhousing with my dad and brothers. Not only did I learn affective shots to take if I was ever attacked (My dad was a martial arts instructor), but I felt like it accessed a different part of the brain we often don't encourage kids to use in school. It's a "think on your feet" type of thought process, one that can be honed with practice. And it was just fun!