The role of the family in developing children’s intelligence between emotional support and educational motivation

Introduction:

Intelligence in children is considered one of the most important factors influencing their development and overall growth. Intelligence is not merely an innate intellectual ability; rather, it is the result of a complex interaction between genetic and environmental factors.

For this reason, the family plays a central role in shaping and developing children’s intelligence. The family environment can be a source of inspiration for creativity and critical thinking or, conversely, a barrier to the development of these abilities.

In this paper, we will examine how the family can positively and negatively impact children’s intelligence. We will discuss the importance of emotional support, educational motivation, and social interaction in enhancing children’s mental abilities, as well as potential negative effects such as emotional neglect, academic pressure, and an unstable environment. By understanding the role of the family in developing intelligence, we can offer effective strategies to support children on their journey toward realizing their full potential.

Intelligence is the mental ability that includes analysis, planning, problem-solving, abstract thinking, learning from experiences, and adapting to challenges. Intelligence is also considered one of the fundamental factors in children’s development, as it helps them understand the world around them, interact with it effectively, and develop their social and emotional skills. Therefore, the family plays a crucial role in developing children’s intelligence in multiple ways.

The Importance of Intelligence in Children’s Development:

As previously mentioned, intelligence is the mental ability that includes analysis, planning, problem-solving, abstract thinking, learning from experiences, and adapting to challenges. It is also considered one of the most important factors that help individuals interact effectively with the world around them. Based on definitions of intelligence, it has been divided into multiple types:

1. Emotional Intelligence:
   • It is the ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions in oneself and others, helping to build healthy relationships, manage stress, and make thoughtful decisions.
   • People with high emotional intelligence are often able to empathize with others and understand their feelings.
2. Social Intelligence:
   • It is the ability to understand and interact effectively with others, enhancing communication skills, building relationships, and teamwork.
   • People with high social intelligence are often good leaders and skilled negotiators.
3. Academic Intelligence:
   • It is the ability to achieve academic success and excel in academic fields, helping in academic success and excellence in scientific and research areas. People with high academic intelligence are often capable of critical thinking and solving complex problems.

Several theories of intelligence have emerged, the most important of which are:

1. The Theory of Multiple Intelligences, proposed by Howard Gardner, which assumes the existence of multiple types of intelligence, such as linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, personal, social, and natural intelligence.
2. The Theory of Emotional Intelligence, which focuses on an individual’s ability to recognize, understand, and manage emotions, and is considered an important factor in personal and professional success.
3. The importance of developing intelligence in children is highlighted through boosting self-confidence, improving academic performance, enhancing social relationships, and improving mental health.

The Role of the Family in Supporting Emotional Intelligence:

Emotional support plays an important role in enhancing self-confidence and mental abilities, being one of the key factors that contribute to boosting self-esteem and cognitive skills in children. When children feel loved and accepted by their families, it strengthens their sense of security and psychological comfort, which positively reflects on their mental and emotional development. Additionally, when children receive emotional support from their families, they feel loved and accepted regardless of their mistakes or failures. This sense of acceptance enhances their self-confidence and encourages them to try new things without fear of failure. Emotional support also includes continuous encouragement and motivation, helping children develop a sense of ability and competence. When children feel that their families believe in their abilities, they are more prepared to face challenges and achieve their goals.

Therefore, it is essential to enhance cognitive abilities through a supportive environment, such as educational activities and interactive games provided by the family, which help develop critical and creative thinking skills. Children who receive emotional support from their families are more capable of handling psychological pressures and daily challenges. This helps them develop coping skills and mental flexibility, enhancing their ability to think clearly and make well-thought-out decisions.

Therefore, it is essential to provide emotional support through:

1. Effective Communication: This involves open and continuous dialogue with children, helping them freely express their feelings and thoughts. Active listening and positive interaction enhance the children’s sense of security and psychological comfort.
2. Encouragement and Appreciation: Offering encouragement and recognition of children’s efforts and achievements boosts their self-confidence and motivates them to continue developing their abilities.
3. Providing a Stable Environment: This helps children feel psychological comfort, positively enhancing their mental and emotional development.

Emotional support from the family not only enhances children’s self-confidence but also contributes to the overall development of their mental abilities. By providing a supportive and stimulating environment, the family can play a crucial role in nurturing children’s intelligence and mental capacities. Below, we provide examples of how emotional support for children has been offered in activities by the Family Affairs Office of the Syrian Future Movement:

1. Listening: Through active listening, when children speak, it’s important for parents to pay full attention. This means focusing on the child, not interrupting them, and showing interest in what they say through facial expressions and gestures.
   • Asking questions: After listening, parents can ask open-ended questions that encourage children to express their feelings and thoughts more deeply. For example, “How did you feel when that happened?” or “What do you think we can do to improve the situation?”
2. Encouragement: Through appreciation and recognition, offering words of praise and acknowledging children’s efforts and achievements strengthens their self-confidence. You can say things like, “I’m proud of you for trying hard” or “Great job! You did excellent work.”
   • In addition to continuous encouragement, even when children face difficulties or failures, it is important to offer ongoing support. Phrases like “It’s okay to make mistakes, the important thing is that you try” or “Every experience teaches you something new” can be used.
3. Love: Showing love to children through tangible actions like hugs, kisses, and kind words enhances their sense of safety and emotional well-being. You can say, “I love you” or “You mean so much to me.”

In addition, spending enjoyable time with children through shared activities like playing, reading, and walking enhances emotional bonds and shows children that they are loved and important. It can be said that emotional support from the family not only boosts children’s self-confidence but also contributes to the comprehensive development of their mental abilities.

Educational Motivation and Its Impact on Mental Abilities:

The family plays a vital role in developing children’s intelligence by providing a rich and stimulating educational environment, such as mental stimulation through educational games, books, and activities that encourage critical thinking and problem-solving. These tools help children develop their mental and cognitive skills. In addition, encouraging curiosity, exploration, asking questions, and exploring the world around children enhances their creative thinking abilities and develops their analytical skills. Effective communication, through continuous dialogue with children on various topics, and listening to their thoughts and opinions, enhances their communication skills and helps them express themselves with confidence. It is essential to provide a supportive home environment that encourages learning and discovery, where children feel safe and supported to try new things and develop their skills. All of this is supported by a good role model in the love of learning and reading, which encourages children to follow the same approach and develop positive educational habits, in addition to learning through play as a way to teach children new skills in fun and engaging ways.

There are also many educational activities that families can offer to enhance children’s intelligence development. Some examples include:

1. Reading, such as reading bedtime stories to children, which enhances their listening and comprehension skills. Encouraging children to read books and magazines with family members and discussing the content with them helps develop critical thinking skills.
2. Educational games, such as board games like chess, Sudoku, and games that require strategic thinking and problem-solving, as well as educational video games that focus on developing academic skills like mathematics and science.
3. Discussions, such as discussions about various topics to encourage children to express their opinions and ideas on different subjects, like current events, science, and the arts. Also, involving children in solving everyday family problems helps strengthen their critical thinking and collaboration skills.
4. Hands-on activities, like simple home science experiments to explain scientific concepts in a practical and fun way, and arts and crafts projects that enhance their creative and manual skills.
5. Educational trips, such as visiting museums, art galleries, and science exhibitions to enhance their knowledge and culture. Field trips to natural or historical sites teach children about the environment and history in an interactive way.

Social Interaction and Its Impact on Critical Thinking:

Social interaction plays a vital role in developing communication and critical thinking skills in individuals. Enhancing communication skills, such as continuous interaction with others, helps individuals improve their ability to express ideas and feelings clearly and effectively. Active listening through social interaction enables individuals to learn how to listen attentively and understand others’ perspectives, enhancing their communication abilities.

The importance of developing critical thinking lies in analyzing information as an opportunity to discuss and critically examine ideas. This helps individuals develop critical thinking skills, evaluate evidence through discussions and conversations in a logical and methodical manner.

We must also consider building social relationships that aim to enhance trust and belonging. Social interaction helps build strong and fruitful relationships, which boosts individuals’ sense of confidence and belonging to the community. Additionally, it fosters the development of social skills through interaction with others, allowing individuals to learn how to deal with different personalities and social situations, thereby enhancing their social skills.

Thus, the family plays a central role in providing opportunities for social interaction, which contributes to developing individuals’ skills and strengthening family bonds. The role of the family can be seen in the following:

1. Family Discussions: Enhancing communication by providing individuals with the opportunity to express their opinions and feelings, which improves effective communication skills. Sharing ideas through discussions helps individuals learn how to exchange ideas and engage in constructive debates, thereby strengthening critical thinking.
2. Group Activities: Such as family games and outings that promote a spirit of cooperation and teamwork among family members. Social skills development through participation in group activities teaches individuals how to interact with others and respect different perspectives.
3. Shared Reading of Books and Stories: Contributing to the development of knowledge and general culture among individuals. Reading together creates an atmosphere of closeness and communication within the family. This is considered only 1% of the families surveyed in northern Syria, who engage their children in the enjoyable activity of shared reading.
4. Educational Games: These games stimulate creative and critical thinking in children, enhancing learning through games, allowing them to acquire new skills in fun and engaging ways.

Cultural activities that contribute to enhancing cultural awareness through participation in cultural activities, such as visiting museums and exhibitions, help increase individuals’ cultural awareness. The negative effects of an unstable family environment:

1. Emotional neglect and academic pressure can have significant negative effects on children’s intelligence and overall development. Emotional neglect affects mental health, which may lead children to face mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, negatively impacting their ability to focus and learn.
   • Additionally, emotional neglect can lead to decreased self-esteem and feelings of insecurity, affecting academic performance and the ability to face challenges. Also, according to our study of the Syrian reality, we found that children who experience emotional neglect may have difficulty building healthy social relationships, which impacts their social and emotional development.
2. Academic pressure also affects performance and can lead to feelings of exhaustion and stress, negatively impacting children’s academic performance and their ability to learn effectively. Academic pressure can lead to physical health problems such as insomnia, headaches, and digestive issues, which affect children’s ability to concentrate and achieve academically. It also reduces children’s ability to develop emotional intelligence skills, such as empathy and emotional regulation, which impacts their ability to cope with challenges and difficult situations.
3. It is important for families to provide a supportive and balanced environment for children, where they are encouraged to learn and grow without exposure to emotional neglect or excessive academic pressure.

Therefore, unstable family environments will have a significant impact on children’s development in various aspects.

Some examples of these environments and their effects, which we have observed, include:

1. Domestic violence: Children who witness domestic violence may suffer from anxiety and depression, affecting their mental health and their ability to focus and learn. These children may also find it difficult to build healthy relationships with others, impacting their social development.
2. Emotional neglect: Children who experience emotional neglect may feel insecure and have low self-esteem, affecting their academic performance and their ability to face challenges. Emotional neglect can also lead to mental health issues like anxiety and depression, which impact their overall development.
3. Excessive academic pressure: This can lead to feelings of exhaustion and stress, negatively impacting children’s academic performance and their ability to learn effectively, as we discussed earlier.
4. Financial instability: Children living in environments with financial instability may face health issues due to a lack of proper nutrition and healthcare, and may struggle to access the necessary educational resources, affecting their academic development.
5. Stressful environments: Children living in environments filled with stress and pressure may find it difficult to develop emotional and social skills, impacting their ability to cope with challenges and difficult situations.

Therefore, it is important for families to strive to provide a stable and supportive environment for their children, where they are encouraged to learn and grow without exposure to emotional neglect or excessive academic pressure.

Effective strategies to enhance children’s intelligence at home:

Based on what has been discussed in this paper, we present our vision at the Family Affairs Office that can help families enhance children’s intelligence:

1. Daily reading: Regularly reading stories to children, encouraging them to read books and magazines with their parents, and discussing the content with them to develop critical thinking skills.
2. Arts and music: Encouraging children to engage in artistic and craft projects, which enhances their creative and manual skills. Learning to play a musical instrument that resonates with the child, despite the fact that this artistic culture may not be accepted by some Syrian groups, can still stimulate creativity and enhance their cognitive abilities.
3. Proper nutrition: Providing a diet that contains all the necessary nutrients for brain growth, and reducing the consumption of foods high in sugar and saturated fats, which may negatively impact children’s health.
4. Encouraging curiosity: Asking questions, exploring the world, and supporting children in their educational endeavors, whether by assisting with homework or providing necessary resources.

Some activities and programs that can help develop intelligence in children:

• A. Language learning platforms:
  • Duolingo, Babbel, and Rosetta Stone
  • These platforms help improve communication and expression skills by learning new languages.
• B. Programmed learning platforms:
  • Codecademy, Udacity, and Coursera
  • These platforms offer courses in programming and artificial intelligence development, enhancing analytical and creative thinking skills.
• C. Music learning apps:
  • Yousician and Simply Piano
  • These apps help learn to play musical instruments and develop musical talents, enhancing emotional and creative intelligence.
• D. Artistic activities:
  • Drawing and sculpture, theater, and acting.
• E. Sports activities:
  • Such as team sports, like football and basketball, which enhance collaboration and teamwork skills, and individual sports, like swimming and tennis, which enhance focus and self-discipline.

Conclusion:

It is clear that the role of the family in developing children’s intelligence is not limited to providing emotional support and educational encouragement alone, but extends to creating a safe and stable environment that enhances the child’s self-confidence and supports their emotional and social growth.
Positive interaction among family members, open communication, and expressing love and appreciation are all factors that contribute to the development of the child’s skills and mental abilities.
Therefore, investing in family relationships and strengthening emotional and educational bonds between parents and children is one of the most important foundations that ensures a bright future for our children, enabling them to become balanced individuals capable of facing life’s challenges with confidence and success.
It is also evident that the role of the family in developing children’s intelligence is indispensable, as it forms the foundation upon which their academic and social future is built. Emotional support and educational encouragement from the family significantly contribute to the development of children’s skills and mental abilities.
Therefore, we call on all families to adopt effective strategies to support their children, such as providing a stimulating learning environment, continuous communication, and encouraging curiosity and exploration. Investing in the development of children’s intelligence through the family is an investment in a bright and prosperous future for our children.

Family Affairs Office
Research Team
Research and Studies Department
Studies
Syrian Future Movement

References:

1. Ali Suleiman, The Role of the Family in Raising Children, Safir Publishing Company, 1996, p. 37.
2. Ibrahim Othman, Family Education and Culture, 2009, pp. 9-23.
3. The role of the family in developing creative thinking in children.
4. Jawak | The Role of the Family in Fostering Creativity in Children – By Maria.