Believe it or not, our ability to navigate social interaction comes from the exposer of the social situation – what we have learned from our childhood and how Social and emotionally intelligent we are to understand our as well as the feelings of others. Therefore helping children to develop healthy social skills are an essential part of their education. children at their young age begin to form an understanding of their surroundings, build relationships and slowly learn the way of it. In school when teachers emphasize helping children develop social skills, they enable the holistic growth of the children.
To apply different approaches where an educator can encourage social development, Montessori teacher training courses can build those teaching skills with the teacher.
Ways you can Encourage Social Development in Children!
Creating Nurturing Environment
To allow children to become more open, the learning environment plays an integral part. The classroom environment is almost like a container for each child and when safety and comfort are established it becomes a niche where children feel free to express and interact. Social skills within children can be established through the teacher’s effort to use the classroom environment and its resources, the learning space can become one of the key factors of children's interaction. Besides, to teach young learners, having the quality of being nurtured is a must for the teacher. This child also learns the important aspect of how they can express their affection to others around them.
Learning By Playing
Play is the language of the children. In many ways, children start to understand the non-verbal and abstract notion of personal space through play. Not to mention play activities makes it easier to engage children and make them be attentive to the task. Play also helps children to understand what sharing and cooperation mean and how to be patient. To encourage free-spirited play, imaginative play activities such as role-play can be done in the class where children can act in various situations and anchor a better understanding of social and emotional cues.
Letting Children Make Decision
Making decisions is a part of life. While children are growing towards adulthood, the need of allowing them to make decisions is equally important. When it comes to a child's social development, it is essential to let making choices about their personal and social behavior to ensure they understand the cause and effect of each decision and becomes better. And when they make a positive decision, by reinforcing those good decisions through word of encouragement, they can grow a healthy sense of self-esteem.
Model Emotional Communication
Communication always plays a key role in social development, since language is the only way we express and connect social skills of the younger ones can be encouraged by helping them learn how to communicate their emotion with words. With children, the ability to label their emotions ensures the child's awareness of his/her own feelings. And with this, they can better express and manage their emotions. A Healthy way of expressing emotions is a part of social development. It makes them navigate social situations and conflict management with peers and have empathy at the same time.
Your Takeaway
As educators, it is our responsibility to provide positive social and emotional opportunities for children where they can feel good about themselves and develops healthy relationships with surrounding people. Healthy social development is the gateway to building better coping mechanisms, problem-solving skills, and solution-oriented minds, ultimately social skills are going to help children secure better interpersonal relationships throughout their lives.
Especially for children who struggle to make friends, helping them improve their social skills at school is integral. Social skills are something that can be developed and improved over time. Teachers to know 21st century teaching methodologies, Montessori teacher training courses can enable to earn the skillsets that are required to meet the needs of the young learners.
Written By : Ashwini Chandra
