How to Support Social Development in Young Children

Man is a social being, and the social development of a child is a very important part of growing up. Children need to be loved and protected, and they need to know how to interact and react with other children and adults in a variety of...

Method 1 of 4:

Helping Infants Develop Social Skills

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Recognize that social development starts at birth. Many people think that social development starts around the time that children enter school, because that is when they are interacting with other children the most. Although this is when they begin "using" social skills, social development actually starts much earlier. In fact, it starts during infancy.
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Show your child that you love them. Lots of pats, hugs, nice words, praise and encouragement let your child feel special and loved. When you satisfy their need for love, they learn, through example, how to love others and to return love and attention.
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Embrace your child with support and security. Young children are totally dependent on you. When frightened or insecure, they will shrink back to you and ask for protection. Respond to this need and offer them protection so they learn to trust you and develop faith in other people.
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Allow your baby to interact with multiple people of different ages. A parent can support the development of strong social skills by allowing interaction with multiple people of different ages. Although the baby may seem too young to be aware of the differences, they are actually very sensitive to the smell and touch of the people that hold them.
1. Allowing your baby to stay with a family member or babysitter for a few hours at a time will help them learn that there are other people they can rely on aside from their immediate family.
2. This early support will also help lessen the separation anxiety that children usually go through when they are a little older.
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Arrange 'play dates' at a young age. Another way to support social development in an infant is to arrange play dates even before they are able to crawl or sit up. This is as simple as putting two non-sibling babies near each other for 'tummy time' on a blanket on the floor. Although very young children do not seem to interact or play with each other, they are aware that the other child is nearby and are actually in the beginning stages of developing empathy, a very important social skill.
1. Often, if one baby is cooing and happy, the other baby will seem to copy this. The same is true if one baby is fussy and crying.
2. Parents can also support the development of empathy by copying the baby's emotions, cooing in response to the baby's cooing or acting sad when the baby is sad.
3. It does not really matter whether the children are facing each other or not.

Method 2 of 4:

Helping Toddlers Develop Social Skills

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Continue involving your toddler in social situations. During the toddler years, it is important to continue involving children in situations where they can interact with other children. This is especially important if there are no siblings in the home. This can be done by enrolling the toddler in some type of childcare or joining a local play group.
1. At this stage in life, a child's world expands greatly because they are mobile and they are learning to speak.
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Encourage sharing with friends and family. In the toddler's mind, everything belongs to the toddler and the social act of sharing becomes an issue. There are many different ways that a parent can handle the development of sharing. However, always keep in mind that the child's concept of ownership of the object is natural and they are acting selfish just to be mean to the other child.
1. In order to help the child pass the social development milestone of learning to share, the child should not be scolded or reprimanded for claiming the object.
2. Instead, the parent should use a calm voice and simple words to discuss the concept of sharing with the toddler and help the toddler separate themselves from the object more easily.
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Teach your toddler simple negotiation or remove a contested object. During sharing instruction is where the parent can begin to teach simple negotiation techniques such as taking timed turns so that sharing is fair. If the concept is too difficult for the toddler to grasp at the time, then it is best to remove the contested object from the sight and reach of the children.
1. This should be done without placing blame on either of the children.
2. For example, many parents tell the children that the toy is having a 'time out'.
3. After the children seem to have forgotten the object, it can be returned to the room, but should not be handed to either of the children.
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Recognize aggressive behavior. Sometimes toddlers act aggressively when another child tries to get a toy or object that they have. They might hit, bite, or in other ways harm the other child in order to retain possession of the object. Of course, this is not socially acceptable behavior, but the parent needs to bear in mind that the toddler is still learning how to behave socially and needs guidance through this stage.
1. The aggressive toddler will usually give physical or verbal warning signs before this negative interaction.
2. In protesting the approach of the other child, the toddler might continually take the object to an area away from the other child or they might simply turn their back toward the other child.
3. Some toddlers will vocalize their disapproval of the approaching child. Even if it is just a grunt or squeal, it is their way of issuing a warning.
4. By learning to recognize these warning signs, the parent can steer their toddler toward a more positive and socially acceptable response to the situation that will help them learn better ways to resolve the conflicts in their lives.

Method 3 of 4:

Helping Pre-School Children Develop Social Skills

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Support social interaction with friends. At this age, young children are beginning to form close friendships and might even have one or more best friends. It is important for the parents to support this social interaction as much as possible. You can do this by allowing the children to have more extensive play dates.
1. Play dates could include things such as attending parties at the homes of their friends or even arranging an outing for the families to attend together.
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Talk to your child about handling negative feelings and interactions. During this time, children might also start to develop dislikes of some other children and find out that others might not like them. Both of these circumstances are natural parts of social development, but can lead to hurt feelings if not handled properly. At this stage in social development, you can talk to your child about their feelings in order to help them understand that everyone is different and has different likes and dislikes.
1. There is nothing wrong with preferring the company of one child to another, but it is wrong to say or do things that are hurtful toward someone else.
2. This is another part of the development of empathy.
3. You should reassure your child if he or she feels disliked and help them believe in themselves.
4. If the child has done or said something hurtful to another child, it is important to help them understand why it is wrong. Simply having the child apologize may seem socially correct, but if it is just meaningless words, they aren't learning an important social skill.
5. Help your child understand why their actions or words were wrong. A good way to help a child grasp this is to ask how they would feel if someone did or said those hurtful things to them.
6. If the child has trouble putting feelings into words, you can give suggestions until they find one that the child can relate to in regards to the situation.
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Encourage your child to independently solve social problems. Allowing children to solve problems themselves allows them to develop a variety of social skills. React only when necessary, and intervene if there is a dangerous problem.
1. Parents who often react before their child hinder their child's social development, because social skills are best taught through experience.
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Observe the behavior of your child carefully. When you see that he wants to perfect a skill or a try out something new, give him support. For example, if a child is trying to overcome self-feeding, help him, give him cutlery and let him learn to feed himself. With the other fork, you can feed your child because the first steps of self-feed can be clumsy.
1. When you respond in this way to your child's needs and desires, noticing their efforts and helping them, your child will develop self-respect and self-esteem.

Method 4 of 4:

Helping School-Age Children Develop Social Skills

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Reassure your child before the first day of school. The first day of school is a big step towards becoming a part of society. Children are often anxious because they don't know what it will be like to be away from home and family every day. The parent can be reassuring and supportive by listening to the child and discussing their fears, while pointing out some of the positive aspects of going to school.
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Encourage your child to talk about their school day. At the end of the first day of school, the child should be encouraged to talk openly about their day and the parent should listen attentively and comment appropriately. This means that if the child had a great day the parent should rejoice with them.
1. If the child's day didn't go so well, the parent should empathize with the child and help them develop a strategy for making the next day, and all of the following days, better.
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Maintain open communication with your child. As the child grows, keeping an open line of communication regarding feelings is important for social development. When possible and appropriate, the parent should share their own feelings of sadness, fear, or other emotions that are often hidden, so that the child can more easily understand that everyone has all types of feelings and it is not shameful to express them at appropriate times.

child social children development

David Pac

Update 24 March 2020

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