Improving My Child's Social Skills

We know the importance of knowing when to say the right things at the right time. Social skills are skills we use to converse with others. It may seem intuitive that conversations are made up of simply how we verbally communicate with one another, however, there are many factors involved as well. These factors include verbal and non-verbal skills to the finest detail of body language, eye contact, turn taking and active listening to the other party we are conversing with. Social skills can be made better through improving underlying issues such as empathy, regulation of emotions as ultimately we communicate our thoughts and feelings to others.

Tips to improve your child’s social skills

- Understanding and recognising emotions

Teaching your child to understand and accept their various emotions such as surprise, anger, sadness, fear and happiness allows them to differentiate and express their own emotions easily. Through this, they will be able to interpret another party’s emotions more easily when communicating and provide an appropriate response. When communicating with your child, it is also important for parents to express their own emotions. For example, letting the child know when you will be angry or happy when the child does something.

- Practise active listening

The key aspects of active listening involve paying attention to what the other party is saying and being self aware of your own body language and hand gestures. Inculcating these appropriate communication skills will help your child in developing increased self awareness and higher competence in social skills.

- Cultivate empathy in your child

Empathy refers to the ability to put ourselves in another person’s shoes, combined with compassion and the genuine interest in understanding one’s situation. Children can learn empathy through those around them. Parents can instil empathy through attending to their child’s emotional and physical needs while understanding their need for autonomy. Discussion can be initiated by parents to stimulate thought process such as asking their child ethical dilemma questions and encouraging them to take the perspective of different characters in the situation.

- Providing your child the opportunity/environment to practise social skills

For an only child, it may not be easily accessible to be constantly talking to a sibling of similar age. Some children may tend to feel more lonely than others and increasing their time at playgrounds, development centres and childcare centres can stimulate the environment for them to be exposed to and interact with other children of different backgrounds.