Humans are social beings, and children learn how to communicate verbally and nonverbally with the people around them from a young age. It can be challenging to teach social skills to children. In their younger years, kids tend to be naturally egocentric, which can lead to problems playing, sharing, and cooperating.
In this blog, we will explore some important social skills for children and what you can do to help them develop these in everyday family life.
What Are Social Skills?
Developing social skills is essential to a child’s development, as it helps them interact with the world around them and create relationships. Social skills cover verbal and nonverbal communication; from a young age, a child will start learning how to respond to cues in their environment.
Developing a range of social skills enables kids to build friendships and play an active role in their school community while also helping them feel more able to manage situations that require teamwork and conflict management.
Many social skills are learned from a young age through play and engaging with family members. They are further developed in preschool and kindergarten through games and opportunities to interact with other kids.
What Are Some Important Social Skills, and How Can You Help Your Child Develop Them?
Sharing
As mentioned above, young children can be egocentric and are prone to tantrums when anyone attempts to play with their toys (or someone else’s). This is a normal part of young child development, as they are more firmly attached to things at that age and struggle to see the benefits of sharing.
This can be a frustrating skill to teach your child, but there are some things you can start doing to help develop this social skill. Being a positive role model for your child by actively sharing with your child and other family members is a great place to start. Make a point of describing what you are doing, and over time, your child will begin to see how sharing works. When they start sharing, make sure you recognize and praise their behavior.
Collaboration and Cooperation
These are important skills for people of all ages, as they help us develop healthy relationships and get things done. This leads to more positive social interactions, which means kids are better able to make friends and develop longer-lasting relationships.
At home, you can let your children get involved in household chores and start asking what they think would be a good thing to do. Playing games or doing puzzles together is a great way to practice cooperation, collaboration, and teamwork.
As your child gets older, they will have more opportunities to engage with other children — on play dates, at preschool, and with family friends. And one thing kids love to do is play and create imaginary worlds. They often imagine that they are adults, or they role-play adult job roles, often leading to solving problems or creating things together.
Once children are a bit older, group work is a great way to help them develop their problem-solving and communication skills around turn-taking, conflict management, and the confidence to share their ideas while listening to others.
Empathy
Understanding and sharing another person’s feelings is an essential social skill, but it can be unclear for young children unfamiliar with verbal and nonverbal cues. Empathy develops over time, and the easiest way to support the development of this in your child is by demonstrating it to them.
Start early, as babies will begin responding to a parent’s reactions as early as six months old. You can talk about other people’s feelings around toddlers and use stories to help them see how it works in practice. Exploring their feelings and the results of their actions is another excellent way to help them develop empathy. For example, if they are angry, mad, or sad, label these problematic emotions and explain that it is okay to feel them in this situation. You might consider sharing how you feel in certain situations as well.
Listening and Following Directions
This category can be complex for many adults, but if kids can develop these skills, it will help them play a more active role at school, answer questions, understand stories, and handle social interactions. It also enables them to follow rules at home or school to avoid getting in trouble. That said, this takes time to develop, and positive reinforcement is an excellent way to get them focused on following directions.
Playing games and getting them involved with tasks at home helps them practice their listening skills, as does using stories. While you are talking with them, demonstrate active listening skills such as eye contact and follow-up questions when they are talking, and encourage them to do the same.
You can start helping your child develop social skills from a young age so that, with time and practice, these skills become intuitive.
If you have any concerns or questions about your child’s social skills or general behavior, call us today to book an appointment with one of our friendly board-certified pediatricians.