Developing social skills in my children is a topic I consider vitally important because these are abilities that, if we help them develop from a young age, will serve them throughout their lives.
And these abilities are very connected to emotional education.
A child with self-esteem, self-confident, capable of controlling their emotions, with the ability to actively listen to others and to put themselves in another's shoes, etc... will be a child who surely will have no problem relating to other people... Hence the importance of working on all these issues first.
Obviously, each child has a different personality; there are children who have no trouble socializing, expressing their desires, starting a first conversation with other children, etc., and there are others for whom all of that is a huge challenge...
Especially in this latter case, it is necessary for parents to help them gradually overcome that shyness, that insecurity... And how can we do that?
I'll give you some ideas for small things we can do every day to develop their social skills:
- Regularly take them to places where they can play with other children and try to spend time with friends or family who have children so they can have as social a life as possible... In general, try to give the child an environment rich in relationships, so they get used to interacting with different people...
- When we go to a store, a cafe, etc., ask them to be the ones to tell the clerk or waiter what we need... teach them to ask for things appropriately... "Could I please have a water and a coke?"
- Highlight and praise when someone is very kind, comment on it, and also when someone is very rude or unpleasant, comment on it, explaining why they shouldn't behave that way...
- When we meet an acquaintance on the street, encourage them to greet them, say hello and goodbye, to say thank you if they are given something, to ask about other people...
- Teach them to take care of both verbal and non-verbal language... make eye contact and have a positive attitude!
- Accustom them to answering the phone themselves, and explain to them how it's done, what they should say, etc... it will be a good way for them to learn to interact with other people.
- Another good idea is to invite their little friends over to the house to spend the afternoon or weekend... or let them go to their friends' houses... it will help strengthen their friendship and emotional bond with that friend, share more things with him/her, etc.
- Foster active listening skills. For this, nothing is better than listening to them (with interest and not while looking at our phone or cooking) and teaching them that they can learn many things if they listen to others.
- Help them understand and overcome negative situations they may encounter... rejection or anger from other children, etc.... Sometimes these types of situations can cause insecurities that make them more withdrawn...
- Teach them how good and positive it is to always ask any questions we have... it doesn't matter if others laugh... if we never ask, we'll never understand... daring to ask always and anywhere, fundamental!!
- Theater is also a good tool for children to express themselves and lose their fear of public speaking, etc... try to enroll them in activities of this type.
- Any team sport will also greatly help improve their social skills.
- Propose games in pairs or teams that require negotiating with the other to establish a strategy.
- A good exercise is also group narration... building a story together... for example, Dad starts with a sentence and the child must add another sentence... if there are more children, even better... until we build a story together... this exercise improves improvisation skills, improves public speaking, and the child's active listening.
- Read them stories, or better yet, let them tell us stories, to reinforce their oral expression and promote these skills.
And as always:
- Never force it; do it little by little, progressively, and without ever obliging them, as it will generate the opposite effect.
- Be the best example; they learn through us, by observing how we interact... take care of our attitudes and behaviors when we go to a store, when we meet someone, with our friends and our social relationships in general...
- Finally, very importantly, let's not forget to always reinforce positive behaviors and attitudes!
What other ideas do you have for developing social skills in our children?
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