As your child grows, they’ll learn new words and interact with more people. One of the most critical skills that a child learns is social skills.
These carry them throughout their childhood and into adulthood as they make friends and search for jobs.
For some kids, socially engaging with others comes naturally.
You may have seen those adventurous kids who go up to anyone and ask questions or tell their whole life stories.
Other children are shyer and aren’t sure how to talk with those around them.
Making friends takes a bit of practice for everyone, though.
If you notice your child is particularly struggling with their social skills, you can encourage them and help boost their self-esteem so they can make the most out of social engagements.
Check out these six creative ways to encourage social skills in your children.
1. Use Music
Music engages the brains of young children in a way talking cannot.
Through music, your child can learn new words since learning music can help develop the left side of the brain.
Songs can help children remember information, too, so if you want to teach a social skill like eye contact or social cues, they can remember how through a song.
Plus, if your child is involved in a band or choir, they can learn to work together as a team and develop empathy.
2. Take Your Kids to the Park
Another way to encourage social skills is by taking your children to the park.
When your children enter the park, they’re free to explore and participate in free play with other children.
You can be guaranteed to find other kids at a park, promoting social interaction for your children.
Make it a point to spend more than the average seven minutes of outdoor free play children get per day.
This allows them to practice communication, leadership, and compromise skills.
3. Explore Nature
When your kids are out in nature, objects, plants, and animals they see may make them more prone to ask questions.
They’ll love talking with you about the tiny critters and plants, and they’ll learn more vocabulary related to the outdoors.
The same applies to any location. You could explore a city as well and talk with your children about what they see and hear.
While you explore, ask them to concentrate on their surroundings so they can build focus.
4. Get Involved in Their Interests
When you take an active interest in your children’s interests, they’ll be better able to build social skills.
Forcing a child into doing something they don’t enjoy will hamper their ability to talk with others and socialize.
Instead, ask your child what they want to do, and find a club or activity in your community for them.
When a child is around like-minded individuals, they’ll feel more at ease to have conversations.
This is an excellent foundation for encouraging social skills.
5. Ask Them Questions
Sometimes, children may get nervous around others and have a lag in a conversation.
When this happens, they become more introverted and may struggle more with any future social situations.
One meaningful way to encourage social skills for your children is to ask them questions.
They’ll notice it’s a regular part of their conversations with you, and they will begin asking their own questions with you and others.
These questions should be open-ended, too.
6. Understand Their Social Limits
Again, some kids are more social than others.
There are introverts and extroverts in this world, and that’s okay! Accept that your child may have social limits.
They need to recharge every so often before participating in social situations again.
Let your child know that they can come to you whenever they need alone time.
An introverted child shouldn’t be expected to interact like extroverted children.
7. Role Play
Pretend play and other forms of role-playing allow kids to actively practice their social skills.
You can set up a social situation for your children to act out.
Give your child tips on body language, eye contact, and actively listening as you role play.
Use characters from their favorite television shows or have them choose a character to express their feelings and emotions as they practice social skills.
8. Be a Good Model of Communication
Finally, you can encourage social skills in your children by being a good role model for communication and other social skills.
Your children look up to you for everything they learn.
Even when you think they don’t notice or aren’t looking at you, they are.
When you talk with other adults, a spouse, friends, family, and other kids, practice good social skills.
Social Skills Development Takes Time
Your child will gradually develop social skills throughout their life.
Be patient as you teach them social awareness, and continue encouraging social interactions to hone these life-long skills.