We all want our kiddos to be able to express themselves fully wherever they go. That is why the social development of a child is essential, then their well-developed social skills will take them a long way ahead in their life. Right now, your life revolves around them. But soon, their life is going to revolve around the world they will be facing.
Follow these 6 tips from us so that you gift your children with the social skills they need to face the new world!
Tips to Ensure Healthy Social Development of a Child
1. A family should set an example
Children are excellent observational learners. When at home, they are continuously observing the family members and picking up their traits. If they themselves enthusiastic and have sufficient healthy amount of conversations, naturally the kids too will follow.
2. Manually animate toys and have conversations with them
Most of the toys come in the form of characters. When children are too young to mix with other friends, you can make use of their toy friends. Even if your kiddos might not be able to participate at this point, they will get a sense of having conversations. If they can talk, involve them in these imaginary conversations. Ask them to place their views and reactions.
3. Develop empathy and understanding of emotions
Only when one can understand other people and their situation properly, one can communicate effectively. Make your children aware of different emotions and help them develop empathy for others. Only then can they understand how to react when someone is happy, sad or in pain.
4. Observe the TV characters
Television is full of characters, expressions, and conversations. Ask your kiddos to deliberately pay attention to the facial expressions, voice tones, and emotions associated with them. Ask them to guess the reaction of the next character to speak.
5. Invite friends and encourage playing in groups
Sharing, caring, understanding, co-operation, teamwork. Group playing sessions are flooded with opportunities for developing all these qualities. The best part is that all these qualities get developed naturally and subtly and at your child’s pace.
6. Make them share their experiences of the day at bedtime
Help your children summarize and express their emotions and views about the happenings of the day. Correct them and praise them wherever necessary. This will improve their elocution skills. Even you as a parent will get an idea about their emotions and thought process.
You, us, we are all social beings here, together trying our best to raise our kiddos to be more socially active. Try them out, share your experiences with us, and let us know how these helped you. Cheers to being more socially connected! If you liked the above article on the social development of a child then we would recommend reading our article on “How to Deal with Shyness in Children.”