How schools can teach children and teens to deal with their own feelings — and why this changes everything.
Picture this: a child gets a low grade, feels frustrated but can’t name that feeling. A teenager is rejected by a group, spiraling into days of anxiety without understanding what’s going on inside. Now fast forward to adulthood — how many people do you know who can’t handle frustration, don’t know how to say “no,” or explode in traffic because no one ever taught them… simply to feel?
If you’ve realized that we grew up memorizing math formulas, the names of countries, and the parts of a cell — but almost no one taught us how to handle sadness, anger, frustration, fear, or insecurity, you’re definitely not alone.
This is exactly why we urgently need to talk about emotional education in schools. And no — this isn’t about self-help or “soft talk.” It’s about science. About human development. And, more than that, it’s a matter of public mental health.
🚀 Why Is Learning About Emotions at School So Important?
If school prepares us for the job market, for exams, and for equations most of us will never use… why doesn’t it prepare us for something that absolutely everyone will face: their own emotions?
The World Health Organization (WHO) has already stated that socio-emotional skills are just as important as cognitive skills for the healthy development of children and adolescents.
By teaching emotional education, we are effectively:
✔️ Preventing anxiety and depression.
✔️ Reducing bullying rates.
✔️ Building adults who are more empathetic, resilient, and self-aware.
✔️ Preparing people for healthier relationships — both professionally and personally.
Because honestly, what’s the point of being great at math if you don’t know how to handle life’s “no’s”?
💥 What Is Emotional Education, Really?
Emotional education isn’t just about sitting in a circle and talking about feelings (although that’s part of it). It goes much deeper.
👉 It’s about developing five key pillars, according to positive psychology and Daniel Goleman’s emotional intelligence framework:
- Self-awareness:
Recognizing what you’re feeling, understanding emotional triggers, and identifying how emotions influence your behavior. - Self-regulation:
Managing emotions in healthy ways — neither suppressing them nor overreacting. It’s about turning anger into assertiveness and anxiety into focus. - Empathy:
Understanding and caring about how others feel — truly stepping into someone else’s shoes. - Social Skills:
Building strong communication skills, active listening, conflict resolution, and teamwork. - Responsible Decision-making:
Making thoughtful choices, considering not just your own desires but also the impact on others and on yourself.
🏫 How Can Schools Actually Teach This?
📚 1. A Curriculum Beyond Just Academics
Just like there are classes for math, science, or history, schools should have dedicated time for emotional skills.
- Weekly emotional education lessons.
- Interdisciplinary projects focusing on empathy, collaboration, and self-awareness.
💡 2. Training Educators in Emotional Intelligence
It’s impossible to teach kids emotional intelligence if the adults in the school can’t manage their own emotions.
- Provide training on emotional regulation for teachers and school leaders.
- Create safe spaces for educators to practice self-care and emotional resilience.
🧠 3. Daily Practices that Build Emotional Strength
- Guided mindfulness at the start of the day.
- “Feeling check-ins”: asking students, “How are you feeling today?”
- Visual emotion charts in classrooms with coping strategies.
- Collaborative games, group discussions, and reflective activities.
🧩 4. Partnering With Families and Communities
Schools don’t educate in isolation.
- Offer workshops for parents on emotional development.
- Engage the community in empathy-building and social responsibility projects.
🎯 What Does Science Say About This?
This isn’t a trend — it’s evidence-based.
- Studies from Harvard University show that emotional learning programs boost academic performance by up to 11%.
- Research from CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) proves that students with strong emotional skills show better mental health, lower risky behaviors, and greater career success.
- UNESCO lists emotional learning as a key 21st-century skill for the future of education.
🔥 What Are the Tangible Benefits?
🚀 For Children and Teenagers:
✔️ Less anxiety, depression, and stress.
✔️ Stronger relationships with peers and teachers.
✔️ Greater autonomy, resilience, and self-esteem.
✔️ Increased empathy and listening skills.
✔️ Better conflict resolution abilities.
💼 For Adulthood:
✔️ Healthier personal and professional relationships.
✔️ Better ability to handle frustration and setbacks.
✔️ Lower risk of burnout.
✔️ More conscious, thoughtful decision-making.
✔️ Adults with emotional intelligence create healthier, more productive workplaces.
🚧 What Happens If We Don’t Teach This?
We grow into adults who:
❌ Don’t handle criticism well.
❌ Avoid difficult conversations.
❌ Confuse anger with aggression and sadness with weakness.
❌ Get stuck in toxic personal and professional relationships.
❌ Develop issues like anxiety, depression, or imposter syndrome.
The cost of not teaching emotional education is sky-high — and everyone pays for it.
💡 Real-World Examples Where It Works (And It Does Work)
- In Finland, a global education leader, socio-emotional development has been part of the curriculum for years.
- Public schools in São Paulo, Brazil, are adopting the “Conviva” program focused on empathy, active listening, and a culture of peace.
- The Ayrton Senna Institute has implemented emotional education programs in Brazilian schools for years, with proven results in students’ academic and emotional growth.
🌈 Conclusion: Feeling Is Also Learning — And Schools Must Teach It
Teaching a child to recognize frustration, sadness, or anxiety — and giving them tools to handle it — isn’t “babying” them. It’s preparing them, truly, for life.
If schools teach reading, writing, and math, they must also teach how to name sadness, turn anger into dialogue, and transform fear into courage. This isn’t a bonus skill. It’s foundational. It’s about raising whole human beings.
Because, in the end, those who learn to understand themselves learn how to live better. And those who live better help create a better world.