Teaching Children Social Skills

As children grow, they have to interact with a lot of people like friends and teachers at school. It is important to teach them the requisite social skills so that they don’t make offending statements and cast a wrong impression on others. Learning social skills will help them to get along with others and make friends. It is all about teaching your children the acceptable ways of socializing with people. Parents have a vital role to play in teaching social skills to children in their formative years. The article deals with ways of teaching social skills to children.

 

A lot of children avoid participating in extra-curricular activities and miss out on a golden opportunity to learn social skills. Encourage your child to venture out of school books and discover his/her strength and interests. There are more chances of your child learning the social skills at a place of his/her liking because the child will be more comfortable in socializing with people there. Interaction is more likely to happen during extra-curricular activities.

 

Parents need to make special efforts and organize activities involving other children to teach social skills to their shy and introvert children. Such children are reluctant and do not mingle easily. Parents can organize fun activities with other children at home and provide their shy child an opportunity to interact with others within the comfortable environs of home.  

   

Parents should teach their child that other people can have an opinion different from his/her and it has to be respected because people have got a different thinking mind. It is not possible to invariably end up meeting people with the same mindset and thoughts. Difference of opinion is bound to exist and the beauty lies in accepting that variety is the spice of life. Even the best of friends can have unlike thinking on the same issue and their reactions to things may not be identical all the time. Teach your child to accept this diversity in human behavior.

 

Children tend to be possessive of their belongings and even friends. While, at a young age, every child exhibits the same possessiveness, parents need to explain them the meaning and importance of sharing and inculcate this sharing habit in their behavior as their age progresses. A child, who doesn’t learn how to share, struggles to make friends and gain social acceptance as he/she is branded as selfish. Sharing is the most pertinent social skill.

 

Patience comes with age and in some people, even age fails to develop patience. Your child should be taught to wait for his/her turn. “Me first” attitude meets with instant rejection outside the walls of your cozy home. Teach your child to develop patience and share the limelight as he/she is not the centre of the universe.