Exploring the influence of parenting competences on children’s emotional regulation and its relationship with classroom learning: A qualitative research study

Abstract

Emotional regulation is closely connected to classroom learning, so the influence of the family on the child’s emotional regulation capacities is an important factor to consider. The objective of this study was to obtain working knowledge of the skills and cognition possessed by a group of parents in relation to their parental competences linked to emotional regulation of their children, and identify the strengths, weaknesses, and potentials of these parental competences. The research was carried out through a qualitative methodological design, based on the knowledge, skills, and practices that parents have on the emotional regulation of their children, considering that these practices are key to classroom learning and therefore to academic performance. As a methodological strategy of the investigation, the case study will be used, with a sample of a group of 28 fathers and mothers, with infant-age children (0–12 years) obtained through a network of parents and an Infant School in Madrid (Spain). Through semi-structured interviews and questionnaires, the knowledge, skills, and practices that these parents carry out in the emotional regulation of their children were discovered. Concluding that it is necessary to reinforce some parental skills for improve the emotional regulation of their children, through courses, seminars, and family educational workshops, to put them into practice in a positive way, since this will influence learning (through motivation, communication, self-esteem, etc.).