Social skills are the key to success in the future, so it is significantly important to develop them in children from an early age. Parents get upset when they see their children not being able to share a toy or not being able to make friends. If a child has developed social skills, he or she can cope with various difficult situations like these. Socially adapted children know how to make friends, play, and start conversations with peers and adults.
So, further, we would like to share the small tips that will help parents speed up this learning process.
1. Communication skills
If a child finds it difficult to find friends, avoids contact, or does not like to start a conversation with unfamiliar peers, it means that he or she has problems with communication. Encourage the child’s participation in discussions. Create situations in which your child will have to interact with other children. Offer to invite friends to visit, and look for a child-friendly environment where he or she can open up. This skill is best developed in creative teams where there is no competitive atmosphere.
Inadvertently give your child tasks in which he or she will have to make contact with unfamiliar people. For example, ask something from the store seller or check with a passerby how to get to a particular place. Tell your child how to ask for help.
2. Emotional intelligence
This skill not only helps to manage the emotional state but also teaches you to be sensitive to the feelings of others and understand them. Children with high emotional intelligence are easier to establish social connections and find a common language with others. With low—have problems and conflicts in the team.
Teach your child to distinguish emotions and understand their own feelings. Talk about feelings, give examples, and often ask what emotions the child feels or ask your children to write down their thoughts and feelings in the diary. Express your feelings in different situations so that the child learns from your example. Learn to analyze the feelings and state of other people. Discuss the feelings of cartoon characters and fairy tales. Develop the child’s sense of empathy, and teach sympathy and empathy.
When the child learns to understand feelings, move on to emotion management. Tell the student how to cope with anger, frustration, and resentment. Create a list of things to do and things that cheer him up.
3. Skill to work in a group
Not everyone can work effectively in a team, provide support, convince colleagues, and manage their own ambitions. Pay attention to how your child interacts with other children, whether he/she is able to persuade and listen to others. The best training for this skill is team activities. Clubs, volunteer activities, and social initiatives will come to the rescue again. Joint preparation of lessons with classmates, and work on presentations and projects, will perfectly pump this skill that may come in handy for your kids to work at the writing services review Rated by Students, for example.
In teamwork, it is important to be able to listen to the opinion of colleagues, voice your point of view, and, if necessary, seek compromises. Teach your child to listen to different points of view, and to treat others with respect. Also, you should teach your student the basics of healthy arguments and methods of persuasion.
4. Ability to carry on a conversation
Children usually need some practice before they learn to have a conversation—to take turns, not to interrupt, and to listen to the other person. Introverted children require someone to start the conversation and keep it going. Extroverts, on the contrary, must learn not to interrupt the interlocutor and give him the opportunity to speak.
A good way to develop this skill in a child is the example of parents and role-playing. Show your child how to communicate properly by talking to him as often as possible. Ask for his opinion on various occasions and show genuine interest in what he says. If her speech is too long, gently bring her back to the topic of the conversation. Play games in which everyone takes turns. Make sure your child has opportunities for creative play. Scenario games: “Let’s imagine that…” will help him to see different situations from another point of view.
5. Confidence in yourself
When a child feels good in general, it has a positive effect on their social skills. If he understands that it is normal to make mistakes or fail, it is easier for him to express his opinion, ask for help or communicate with each other. If a child denies something, he or she does not take it personally and is ready to insist on his or her own way, while remaining polite. It may seem paradoxical, but children need to fail in order to succeed.
They need to know that they have to try things over and over again—and eventually they will succeed. The key to mastering new skills is self-confidence. It is also necessary to praise the child properly. They need to say not just: “Good job”, but be as specific as possible: “I am proud of how hard you worked to solve this difficult task” or “Thank you for bringing me the book. I really needed it.”
To wrap it all
Remember that any skills can be easily instilled in a child by personal example because children adopt the behavioral models of adults. An important role is also played by the immediate environment, where the child trains his social skills. If you want your child to become sociable, friendly, and pleasant, become one yourself, and he or she will repeat after you.
