The other day my five-year-old son dropped his prized possession?a ceramic skull he?d painstakingly hand-painted?on our polished concrete kitchen floor.
It shattered into a million pieces. And as I looked to my son?s face for his reaction I felt myself bracing in anticipation of his temper?his howls of rage and flailing fists. His need, when something bad happens, is to place blame on anyone other than himself.
Instead, a miraculous thing happened: He started to cry.
?It?s nobody?s fault,? he said, collapsing in my arms and sobbing. ?But I?m just so sad.?
I felt like punching the air with joy. Strange as it sounds, seeing my little boy burst into tears was one of the biggest parenting triumphs of my life.

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EQ vs IQ: Why emotional intelligence will take your kid further in life Why" Because ever since he could speak, I?d noticed him exhibiting a strange behaviour, which I?ve eventually come to realize is not so strange at all. When something bad happened in which he was disappointed or hurt he would erupt into displays of anger and blame. For instance, even at the age of three, if he flipped over on his scooter and scraped his knee he would jump right up, choke back his tears and point at me enraged, shouting, ?You made me fall down!?
Kids b...