Three Ways to Help Develop your Child’s Social and Emotional Skills
We live in a world where social and emotional skills are more critical than ever. In the current economic environment, our children need to navigate life with confidence and self-esteem. The unfortunate reality is that plenty of our children may still lack these skills if taken with contempt. Today we will discuss three great ways parents can help develop their children’s social and emotional skills.
What are Socio-Emotional Skills?
Social and Emotional skills are the abilities to regulate one’s emotions, understand social cues, form positive relationships with peers, and manage unpleasant situations more effectively. These skills also help the child understand their self-worth and stand up against bullies and for themselves positively.
Ways to Help Develop Your Child’s Social and Emotional Skills
Provide unconditional love and appreciation
When the day goes unplanned, or the child has done something wrong, it’s easy to forget the importance of giving them unconditional love because we feel anger towards them for disobeying us. While we don’t want to give them a free pass and let it slide away when they do something wrong, we should still try our best not to punish them without giving them some form of love. For example, We can tell them, “I appreciate you for telling me the truth” or “I love you, and I’m glad that we can talk about this.” This practice will let the child know that mom/dad still loves me if they admit to making a mistake. Parents should also try to avoid saying things like “you’re a bad child” or “you’ll never amount to anything.” These words may seem harmless, but they could be very damaging to the child’s self-esteem.
Encourage the child to make friends and play with others
Playing games and making new friends is quite essential for the child’s social development. Not only will this let them learn how to interact with other children, but it also allows them to make new memories that they can cherish as they grow older into adulthood. Make it a priority to know your kid’s friends and encourage playtime between your kids and their friends. The way to do this is to ask your child’s friends over for a play date or perhaps take them out. You can then join in the fun and act as their parent or spectator who loves their games. That way, they can feel open while you bond with them and get to know them better.
Teach the Child Empathy
Empathy is definitely one of those essential social skills that a child should learn. It’s the ability to understand how other people feel and be able to relate with them. Studies have shown that more empathetic children tend to develop better relationships in the future compared to kids who don’t possess empathy at all. One way to teach the child empathy is by letting them see you help other people. When you volunteer, try to let your child come with you and observe how the volunteers care for the citizens in their community. You can also use storybooks to influence your child’s behavior or read them a story about an empathic character and point out why you think the character is empathetic.