How to Help Children Gain Social Skills When They Study at Home

To most parents, starting another school year of distance learning is a great challenge. After all, most parents don’t have a professional training background for teaching. And trying to teach your children can bring back some unpleasant memories such as when mom was trying to teach you how to drive or solve a complex mathematical problem.

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This is a guest post by Leon Collier, a blogger from the UK who writes at college paper writing services, write my thesis and professional essay writers. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12

After watching hundreds of science videos and solving math problems, you may start wondering about the impact of quarantine on your child’s social skills. Will your child remember how to communicate and share with his or her teachers and peers? Having these concerns is okay. Building relationships with people who are not family is the foundation of academic success.

Becoming successful socially takes a lot of time and practice. In this article, we are going to discuss some of the best tips on how you can help children gain social skills when they study at home.

1. Know their interest

Your children will enjoy socializing with others when they do activities that genuinely interest them. Whether it’s playing an instrument or participating in their favorite sport, this is the first step towards developing their social skills. It helps the child by placing him or her around like-minded individuals. And this will make them feel at ease. While it’s important to be there for them while they participate in these activities, you should consider inviting kids who enjoy doing the same things to build these skills easily.

2. Ask questions

When children get frightened or nervous, they may become introverted and struggle in social situations that will affect their future. As the Center of Development and Learning reports, there are a couple of ways children can initiate conversations with others. And one of the best ways is asking questions. The best way to know about others and form connections is by asking questions that pertain to the other person. Encourage your child to answer questions beyond a yes or no.

3. Role-playing works

Role-playing with both old and young children is one of the best ways to help them develop social skills naturally. Let your child pretend to be the person they have difficulty getting along with. This will help you have an idea of how your child perceives the person. Switch roles to see what your child does when pretending to communicate with the person. Suggest different ways that can help your child communicate with the person.

4. Teach empathy

When children understand other people’s emotions, they’ll easily connect with them and create positive relationships. Parents can teach their children empathy by talking about different scenarios and situations with them. Ask your children how people feel when different things happen. An important aspect of teaching children empathy is helping children learn how to listen to others attentively. This involves focusing on what the person has said when the conversation ends.

5. Know the limits

Some children enjoy socializing than others. You should not expect a shy and introverted child to interact in a similar way to an outgoing child. Some children are comfortable in crowds while others prefer communicating with a small circle of peers. You need to know the limits of your child. Children with special needs might not feel comfortable talking with others for hours.

6. Be a role model

You need to be aware of how you interact with others when your child is present. Do you ask others questions and take the time to listen to their answers? Do you show genuine empathy for family and friends? According to Parenting Education, you can become an effective role model through forethought and conscious effort. Children are always watching the people around them especially parents. Therefore, being a good role model will positively affect your child.

7. Develop the skill of reading facial expressions

When reading together or enjoying a video, you can increase the social IQ of your child by talking about the story. Most of the time, we focus on the adventure and finishing the story instead of the characters. When reading your child, a story, try to include emotional words such as worry, fear, anger, or happy. Give your child time to form the picture in his or her mind.

8. Don’t always be the loser

When parents participate in different activities with their children, they allow them to win all the time for them to feel happy and confident. While this is good, you should give your child the gift of not always winning because it’s the nature of life. We all win and lose. And home is the best place to practice this.

9. Share

Create a silly video or art and share it with your children. Sharing your creativity will encourage them to become innovative. The more you reveal yourself to them, the more they’ll return the favor. You shouldn’t take life too seriously. And so should your child.

10. Encourage your child to follow instructions

Children who don’t follow instructions are more likely to experience a wide range of consequences. Whether it’s redoing assignments or being punished for misbehaving, failing to follow instructions can be a huge problem. When your child follows instructions, he or she will naturally improve on various aspects of life including social skills. Before you start giving instructions, you need to avoid these mistakes:

Giving your child multiple instructions at a time: Always give one command at a time to avoid confusing your child.
Phrasing directions as questions: Giving a direction as a question implies that the child has the option of saying no (so don’t ask unless you are prepared to receive a “no”).
Forgetting that making mistakes is normal: Children will always get distracted and forget what you told them to do. You need to view mistakes as an opportunity to develop and improve essential skills.

Conclusion

Good social skills will help your children enjoy different relationships and reduce stress and anxiety. Social skills need to be refined regularly since they get strengthened with practice and effort. By using these tips, you’ll help transform your child’s social skills for the better.

Author Bio:

Leon Collier is a blogger from the UK, who writes at college paper writing services, write my thesis and professional essay writers about everything: pop-culture, history, travel, self-development, education, marketing. When not writing, you can find him behind a book or playing tabletop games with his friends. Follow him on Twitter @LeonCollier12