Abstract
This article focuses on two aspects of emotional intelligence, emotion understanding and emotion regulation. These abilities are important because of their impact on social communication and the way in which they influence a child's access to knowledge. Caregivers who engage their children in emotion talk may strengthen the ability of their children both to understand and to regulate emotion. Caregiver emotion talk can be facilitated by making the language used in emotion talk accessible, making implicit aspects of emotion explicit, and capitalizing on teaching moments when the child is most receptive.