Raising a child in today’s fast-paced, achievement-driven world is no small feat. While many parents focus on grades and extracurriculars, one of the most overlooked skills is emotional intelligence.

This doesn’t just help kids excel socially; it helps them grow into resilient, empathetic, and successful adults who can navigate challenges with confidence, foster meaningful relationships, and lead fulfilling lives.

So, what do parents who raise emotionally intelligent kids do differently? After years of studying over 200 parent-child relationships — and from practicing healthy habits with my own child — I’ve uncovered seven powerful strategies that these parents embraced early on.

They gave their child space to process their feelings and trust their inner voice. When their child was upset, they sat quietly beside them, offering comfort without words. Embracing silence can help children better navigate and reflect on their emotions.

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By verbally sharing feelings — like “I’m frustrated” or “I’m happy” — they taught their children emotional awareness and gave them words to express themselves. This helped their children see emotions as normal and share them openly rather than suppressing them.

They showed their child that mistakes are part of life and taking responsibility is a strength. Apologizing built trust and showed respect, making their child feel valued. It also modeled empathy and taught them how to repair relationships.

This might sound unconventional, but they knew kindness and respect can’t be forced. Instead, they modeled these behaviors, trusting their child to learn by example. If their child forgot to say thank you, the parent said it for them, confident the lesson would stick over time.

This takes a lot of bravery! But as a parenting coach, I’ve never told my 6-year-old to say please or thank you. Now he says it all the time on his own — because he hears me say it.

They took their child’s concerns seriously, whether it was a lost toy or trouble with a friend. By validating their feelings, they showed their child that emotions matter. This fostered self-worth, emotional safety, and respect for their experiences.

The best way to teach decision-making is to encourage children to make their own decisions. Instead of fixing problems, they asked, “What do you think we should do?” This helped boost critical thinking, confidence, and independence.

They let their child get bored, which helped them become comfortable with stillness. This built creativity, self-regulation and problem-solving skills. Their child learned to enjoy their own company and find joy in simple moments, like staring out the car window instead of needing a screen.

• Modeling the behaviors you want to see: Express your emotions openly, apologize when you make mistakes, and show kindness and empathy in your interactions.
• Validate your child’s feelings, no matter how small they may seem, and give them the space to process those emotions without rushing to fix or dismiss them. 
• Encourage problem-solving by asking open-ended questions instead of providing all the answers.
• Let them experience moments of stillness or boredom to build creativity and self-regulation.

Most importantly, focus on building a relationship rooted in respect and trust — because emotional intelligence starts with feeling safe, valued, and understood.

Reem Raouda is a certified conscious parenting coach, mother, and creator of BOUND — the first and only parent-child connection journal designed to nurture emotional intelligence and self-worth in children. She has transformed hundreds of families through her courses, coaching and tools. Follow her on Instagram. 

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The best place to retire in the United States may be its capital. The District of Columbia beat out all 50 states to snag the top spot on a new ranking from senior living website Seniorly.com. 

To rank the states and D.C., Seniorly considered factors from three categories — affordability, quality of life and health care — to determine the best states to spend your golden years. The website created a ranking system for the states based on metrics like cost of living, Social Security payments, local senior population, climate, access to health care and more.

D.C.’s vast health-care system, with plenty of doctors to accommodate the senior population and generous Medicaid spending on long-term care, helped it land the No. 1 spot. Additionally, the abundance of attractions in area, like museums and monuments, make it a fun and lively place to retire.

One big caveat: D.C.’s high cost of living may make it difficult for retirees to live comfortably, depending on their financial situation. 

Outside of D.C., here are the 10 best states for an affordable and healthy retirement, according to Seniorly:

1. Montana
2. Wyoming
3. Alaska
4. Pennsylvania
5. South Dakota
6. Vermont
7. North Dakota
8. Rhode Island
9. Maine
10. Colorado

The Western region of the U.S. is home to four of the 10 best states for retirement, and you may be able to retire there at a more affordable price than D.C.

Montana has a markedly lower cost of living than D.C., according to the Missouri Economic Research and Information Center data Seniorly used for its ranking. Home to Glacier National Park and endless opportunities for outdoor recreational activities, Montana ranked No. 1 for quality of life. Plus, 1 in 5 Montana residents are ages 65 and older, according to Census Bureau data, so retirees are in good company. 

No. 2 Wyoming and No. 3 Alaska also aren’t the most affordable states, but both lack a personal income tax.

Notably, the top 10 states for retirement aren’t exactly known for their warm climates. Rhode Island and Maine are the only coastal states to make the top of the rankings, but the winters there won’t allow for a comfortable January beach day the way a warmer place like Florida might.

Though the Sunshine State attracts plenty of retirees, Florida got the worst health-care score in Seniorly’s ranking, pushing it down to No. 17 in the overall rankings.

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Positive social relationships are proven to combat anxiety, increase our happiness and help us live longer. But, as we get older, maintaining certain bonds, specifically friendships, can feel more challenging.

On a recent episode of Jay Shetty’s podcast On Purpose, author Mel Robbins attempts to demystify why it’s so hard to find friends in adulthood.

“The rules of friendship completely change when you hit your twenties,” Robbins, who authored “The Let Them Theory: A Life-Changing Tool That Millions of People Can’t Stop Talking About,” told Shetty.

For a friendship to work, three different factors need to align, Robbins says.

“When you were little, you were in proximity to people your age all the time,” Robbins said.

School, groups sports, or church made it so we were constantly surrounded by people who were our age.

Today more than half, 58%, of Americans don’t live near or in the community where they grew up, according to 2018 data from Pew Research Center. This means that many of the friendships they had growing up probably are harder to maintain.

To really be someone’s friend, seeing them consistently needs to be easy.

The older you get, the more people you’ll meet who are in different phases of life.

“Everybody’s on different timelines,” Robbins said. “Some of your friends are getting married. Some are going to graduate school. Some are now pursuing jobs.”

Finding friends who are experiencing the same hurdles and hitting the same milestones makes it easier to connect.

How much you and another person have in common might change over time. And if your values don’t align, it’s hard to maintain a bond.

“You can have fantastic energy with somebody, and then if you decide you’re not drinking anymore, the energy is off,” Robbins said. “If you decide to get really focused on fitness, the energy is off. If you have very different political beliefs, the energy is off.”

When an adult friendship fizzles, it’s usually because one or more of these three pillars dissolves. And while it’s hard to accept “you can’t force those things,” Robbins said.

To continue making friends when you’re older, focus on who is close to you, what they are going through, and how much you two have in common. Being more intentional about who you approach means you’re more likely to meet the right people.

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There’s no such thing as a perfect mom or dad — but most “good parents” embrace two specific mindsets to raise confident, well-adjusted kids, says child psychologist Becky Kennedy.

First, they focus on their own personal growth as a parent, just as much as they focus on their kids’ growth, Kennedy said on a podcast episode of “The Tim Ferris Show” that aired last month: “I think that’s No. 1.”

Second, they avoid judging their children unnecessarily. “I think a good parent really activates curiosity over judgment in a situation with their kids,” said Kennedy, who has a PhD in clinical psychology from Columbia University and hosts the “Good Inside” parenting podcast.

Leading with curiosity helps parents avoid making snap judgments about their kids and doubting their own parenting, said Kennedy, a mother of three children herself.

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If your young child keeps getting in trouble for hitting classmates during recess, even if you’ve taught them not to hit others, it’s easy to assume a worst-case scenario: Your kid is “bad,” and you’ve failed as a parent. But the truth is likely much less severe, Kennedy said. Maybe something’s been bothering them, causing them to uncharacteristically act out with violence.

If you take a more inquisitive approach, you’re more likely to understand what’s behind your child’s behavior so you can address the root cause. ”‘I wonder why my kid is hitting [classmates]?’ As soon as you use the word ‘wonder,’ you’re unable to judge, because you’re thinking and conjuring up this bigger picture,” said Kennedy.

Your willingness to do that, rather than rushing to critical judgment, helps build and maintain strong, trusting parent-child relationships — without letting your kid off the hook for acting out, Kennedy added. “A good parent can put into action the idea that really being the sturdiest leader for your kid involves equal parts very firm boundaries and parental authority as it does warm, validating connection,” she said.

As for the personal growth aspect of Kennedy’s parenting philosophy, being open-minded enough to reflect on your own behavior, motivations and expectations as a parent can be difficult. But it’s a necessary part of learning how to view yourself and your child as separate people, so you can give them the support they need to become a confident adult, child psychologist Tovah Klein told CNBC Make It last year.

“It’s a really key part of raising children: Can we see them for who they are, accept them for who they are?” said Klein. “It’s really core to helping a child become a decent human being, one who can handle themselves and have confidence in themselves.”

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Some skills are almost always in demand on freelance marketplace Upwork.

Full stack developers, for example, who build the back end of websites, were in demand in both 2023 and 2024. They’re now listed on Upwork’s most recent report as well, 2025′s Most In-Demand Skills. Graphic designers have shown up on the list in each of the last three years, too.

But there are some fast-growing new skills Upwork has seen on its platform as well.

“What our report points to this year,” says Kelly Monahan, managing director of the Upwork Research Institute, “especially in the technical categories like AI, is specialized skills are winning.” Instead of someone looking to hire a machine learning expert, for example, they’re looking for the more specific AI data annotation expert.

She adds that freelancers with these specialized skills are also “able to demand higher wages.” Here are five of Upwork’s fastest growing skills for 2025, what it takes to learn them and how much you stand to make.

Career coaches guide their clients on their journeys to achieve their professional goals.

The labor market is seeing a lot of rapid change, especially with the advent of generative AI. “A lot of people are having to make pivots or move to some sort of tangential category in order to stay employed,” says Monahan. Career coaches can help them make those pivots.

Career coaches often have bachelor’s degrees, experience in the work world and a relevant certification from organizations like the International Association of Career Coaches.

One career coach on Upwork is charging $185 per hour.

People with this coding skill use scripting languages to create automation within code, Monahan says, adding that “this is growing simply because of all the demand that’s happening with generative AI.” She believes by 2026, this will be one of the top 10 most in-demand skills within coding and web development.

You can learn to code by taking all sorts of online courses through universities or sites like Coursera, which also offers courses on automation, specifically.

Scripting experts on Upwork charge as much as $250 per hour.

With so many people now buying their day-to-day items online instead of in person, for industries like retail and health care, “the ability to really manage your supply chain is going to continue to become critical for businesses to deliver services and goods,” says Monahan. Which is exactly the kind of task supply chain and logistics project managers oversee.

“It’s getting on the phone with vendors,” she says. “It’s making sure that there’s enough supply in the warehouses, making sure, from a transportation perspective, you’ve got enough vehicles going in transit.”

Many people with this skill earn a bachelor’s degree in subjects like business administration and gain experience on the job.

These types of project managers charge as much as $120 per hour.

When an engineer is creating code for a website or app, a design pattern can help streamline that process. It’s about “making sure that there is consistency in the way that the data is being coded,” says Monahan. Sites like Coursera offer courses in pattern design that can help an engineer improve this skill.

That specificity within the coding world is “something that’s popping and growing on our platform,” she says, “and I think that’s going to become more and more important.”

Pattern design specialists on Upwork charge as much as $250 per hour.

This skill focuses on designing the display ads that show up on website banners and platforms like YouTube. “I think it’s probably because of the continued use of social media and just our consumer behavior” that the skill is becoming so popular, says Monahan.

There are multiple ways to gain experience in this type of design, including a bachelor’s degree in advertising or graphic design, similar online courses or internships in the field.

Display ad experts on Upwork charge as much as $210 per hour.

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