Growing Families’ Emotional Intelligence

AEON Corporation, one of the most popular shopping malls companies in Japan, celebrated families and children on November 20, 2021 with a POP-UP Festival in partnership with UNICEF World Children’s Day. Over 400 children and parents enjoyed playing and learning about emotional intelligence through hands-on activities and family fun. The limited seats were constantly filled throughout the day.

Partnerships for a successful event

A longtime POP-UP Festival partner, DAIJOUBU, helped coordinate and execute the event. Several members of the company helped with the activities at the mall, and they even coordinated with a DAIJOUBU member in the United States who held virtual interviews that were shown on a big screen. Because the POP-UP activities are so well-planned, the coordinators needed to only provide materials for the children while the volunteers shared the simple but effective activities with the children.

POP-UP Festivals are all about learning emotional intelligence by DOING. All of the volunteers and staff received training, and they set the tone for the fun and play to follow. The volunteers demonstrated emotional intelligence to the participants with their behaviors, faces, voices, and atmosphere. The children’s non-judgmental hearts and minds made this day a delight. 

Emotional Intelligence for the entire family

In addition to the activities for kids, DAIJOUBU prepared free emotional intelligence tests for adults as well. Almost 200 parents and grandparents took the emotional intelligence test, and many were very interested in learning about their own emotional intelligence. Partnering with AEON and DAIJOUBU,  families learned the importance of recognizing emotions, accepting them, and making choices that align with their intentions. 

As one volunteer said: “it was quite the opportunity for families to casually and naturally talk about their emotions with each other. It was sweet and playful, but you could tell there was a lot of depth.”

When it comes to providing an event for families to deepen their relationship with each other and increase their wellbeing, POP-UP Festivals make it feel like play.

AEON Company is now planning to have some more POP-UP Festival events in 2022 with DAIJOUBU.