Developing skills in your child that enable them to resolve conflict, respect authority, and nurture meaningful relationships isn’t always easy. Every parent wants children with good manners and the ability to gain the respect of their peers. Here are four surprising ways to help your child improve their social skills:
Handle The Academic Side Of Things
Parents with high expectations of their children equip them with the skills and help them develop the motivation needed to become hard-working. It is important to balance academics with leisure time. During the early years in the pre-primary phase, the most important social learning takes place through imaginative play. The great news is that you don’t need any special courses, tools, or even an online tutor to achieve this. You simply need some playmates for your child.
Encourage Supervised Playdates
Children who have exhausted their excess energy are better equipped to listen and take in new knowledge. Playdates provide the perfect outlet for energy. They also allow children the opportunity to role-play and practice what they have learned by watching the adults around them. Kids put into practice the ideas they have come across and practice them on each other. As with all practice, it’s not always completely smooth sailing, so parents need to stand at the ready to help resolve disagreements.
Work On Your Parent-Child Connection
We all know how quickly children learn to mimic the behaviors of those around them, especially unwanted behaviors. However, when you use this universal truth to your advantage, you can model the social behaviors you want your child to develop.
Always speak with polite tones to your child, use good manners, and take the time for one-on-one connection. The greatest predictor for positive behavior lies in how connected children feel to their parents. So, listen to every banal detail of their little stories and do it with great enthusiasm. Ask questions, read body language, and be attentive to the cues your child gives you as well as your own body language and tone of voice. Speak to your child in the way you want your child to speak to others.
Teach Your Little One About Taking Turns
“Sharing” is an entirely foreign concept to small children. In fact, before the age of three, the part of the brain that is responsible for understanding this concept is still under development. This means it is unrealistic to teach children in this age group to share as they do not yet possess the ability to practice self-control.
Instead of trying to teach children to share, use the concept of taking turns. Children of younger ages can understand when it is their turn and when it is someone else’s turn. They might not always be amenable to taking turns, but utilizing this concept is more realistic when taking into consideration the developmental strides their brains are yet to take.
Communication With An Adult As Part Of Conflict Resolution
Children can’t always know what the correct way to behave will be. They are not yet able to predict the outcomes of their actions or think much further than the present moment. For these reasons, it’s important to make sure they feel comfortable approaching an adult when they are unsure if they have done wrong. This way, they can be guided towards the correct course of action without fear of punishment. This makes each “mistake” a learning opportunity and enables the child to acquire good social skills through trial and error and expert adult guidance.
